Where to next, Transdniester?
"With armed men in the polling station, no voter lists, and international observers coming from an organisation concocted the night before the vote, these were no normal elections.
"But then the Donetsk People’s Republic is no normal country. It is no country at all, according to most of the world. But the vote for prime minister here and in neighbouring Luhansk region on Sunday was one more step towards creating a new reality on the ground and carving out a chunk of Ukraine that will no longer controlled by Kiev."
And that's just the beginning of Shaun Walker's excellent piece on the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk votes. He drives home the point that these votes have "given hope to older generations that they will never again be part of Ukraine."
Read on here:
LATEST:
NATO's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, says the elections held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine do not correspond with a September 5 truce deal and will not improve the situation.
TOP NATO GENERAL SAYS RECENT RUSSIAN AIR INCURSIONS IN EUROPE INCLUDED MORE PLANES, MORE PROVOCATIVE FLIGHT PATH THAN PREVIOUS ONES
-- Reuters
Breedlove also says Russia continues to resupply separatists in Ukraine, estimating that some 250-300 Russian forces are still operating inside Ukraine, involved in training.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that soldiers at pro-Kyiv "Checkpoint 31" on the Bahmutka highway received an "ultimatum" this morning demanding that they surrender their weapons and vacate that and other checkpoints.
The warning was delivered by a local taxi driver "under a white flag."
There has been no official comment on the situation from Ukrainian government sources.
Checkpoint 31 was a fallback position for Ukrainian troops after Checkpoint 32 was lost to pro-Russian fighters.
It was the scene of this video report late last week by our correspondent Levko Stek:
Don't miss the bonus takeaway! Great breakdown by @GKates:
Five Takeaways From Eastern Ukraine's Separatist Vote
From our newsroom:
NATO's top military commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, has said the elections held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine do not correspond with a September 5 peace plan and will not improve the situation.
Breedlove, speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon on November 3, said Russia continues to resupply the pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, and estimated that some 250-300 Russian forces are still operating inside Ukraine.
He said the troops have no combat role and are mostly involved in training.
Breedlove said that the truce agreed by Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists on September 5 as part of a peace plan remains "a cease-fire in name only."
He noted what he called a trend toward the hardening of the line of demarcation between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists, saying it "has become more defined."
At the same time, he said, the border between Ukraine and Russia has become "completely porous," allowing for the unhindered movement by the pro-Russian forces.