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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Mission Not Accomplished

The administration victory lap over deterring Russia from conquering eastern Ukraine--if you can ignore that Russia already took part of Ukraine by seizing Crimea--is premature even in that narrow focus.

Pro-Russian elements in eastern Ukraine are still fighting to separate the region from Ukraine:

Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian military checkpoints and other strategic points in eastern Ukraine overnight but they were beaten off with only minor casualties on the Ukrainian side, a government forces spokesman said on Tuesday.

Fighting took place at Kramatorsk, Luhansk, and Slaviansk.

At Luhansk, the Ukrainians offer the detail that their "special force units" repelled the attack.

This does not mean elite special forces. Ukrainians have called their newly raised National Guard units special force units, and I'm sure this is what the spokesman was talking about.

I also tend to ignore the body counts issued for dead rebels. I assume they have no idea what damage they've inflicted.