In All Humility ... Outmanoeuvred

"Yes, I'm from Crimea, and of course I took part in the operation to restore order there. We've got about six guys from Crimea. The other guys are from Kharkhiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and other places."
pro-Russian gunman

"We've been taken prisoner by dirty means. I'm surrounded by 500 people, what do you want me to do?"
Ukrainian commander

"There is only one directive for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry -- the Russian government has to immediately withdraw its commando groups, condemn the terrorists and demand they lave the installations."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, acting Ukraine Prime Minister

"[The Kremlin is feeding Russians] misinformation exaggerations, conspiracy theories, overheated rhetoric and occasionally, outright lies [through state-controlled media]. It is an extraordinary propaganda campaign that political analysts say reflects a new brazennness on the part of Russian officials."
The New York Times

• A combat vehicle with pro-Russian gunman on top goes through downtown Slaviansk on April 16, 2014. The troops on those vehicles wore green camouflage uniforms, had automatic weapons and grenade launchers and at least one had the St. George ribbon attached to his uniform, which has become a symbol of the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.  (EFREM LUKATSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Television channel Rossiya 24 on Tuesday reported that between four and 11 innocently peaceful pro-Russian supporters were killed, strafed by helicopter gunfire near Kramatorsk. Unbelievable, that Ukrainian military is resorting to the kind of bloodthirsty atrocities the world has come to recognize as the barbaric practices of the Syrian military led by Bashar al-Assad. Except that, in reality, a helicopter landed near the town at an airfield, and when a Ukrainian commander emerged, he was attacked by the pro-Russian crowd.

"The continued strong presence of the Russian military along the Ukrainian border and the continued inflammatory reporting by Russian state media that are also watched in eastern Ukraine are a destabilizing factor" stated German government spokesman Georg Streiter, after Chancellor Angela Merkel informed President Vladimir Putin that his country possesses "the main responsibility" to calm the spiralling-to-conflict situation he has himself inflicted on Ukraine.

Hopelessly inept, the interim government hardly knows how next to respond, other than to repeat the querulously-worded condemnations of Russian actions against Ukraine's stability and autonomy. Ukraine did order in its armed forces, but both the military and the government has suffered yet another blow to their self-esteem after pro-Russian separatists took possession of six armoured personnel vehicles, replacing the Ukrainian flags with Russian flags and paraded them proudly.

Pro-Russian gunman clears the way for a combat vehicle with gunmen on top in Slovyansk, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 16. AP Photo 

Shouts of "Russia! Russia!" rang through the streets from the upturned faces of joyous crowds of supporters in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, seized and held by rebels. Taken from Ukrainian troops in Kramatorsk, the vehicles were driven the 20 minutes to Slavyansk. Instead of being used to disperse an armed rebellion taking control of the area, the vehicles were used to contemptuously display Ukrainian helplessness.

Simply put, the Ukrainian soldiers were unprepared to fire on the protesters. So they were themselves disarmed, surrounded by crowds of rebellious residents eager to see Russia prevail and Ukraine brought to its knees. "Let's say we didn't buy them in a shop. We came by them in the course of things, if you know what I mean" said a masked gunman, claiming that the crews of the vehicles had defected. Reports suggested they were forced to surrender.

Crowds look on as pro-Russian separatists drive round the city on armoured vehicles. Photograph: Luke Harding

"They made a decision to give us their vehicles", a gunman who offered his first name, Vladimir, stated describing himself as an army veteran from Donetsk. A group of 40 Ukrainian servicemen were placed on buses heading out of town. Not far away, another 15 armoured troop carriers were surrounded and stopped in their tracks by a pro-Russian crowd eager to humiliate the Ukrainian paratroopers.

Attack helicopters circled, a Ukrainian air force jet flew low passes hoping to disperse the crowd as the standoff continued, but neither was successful. The paratroopers, unwilling to use force on civilians stood by to await instructions. The troops, isolated and surrounded were persuaded to remove the clips from the rifles, then the firing pins, and finally to surrender their ammunition. Ultimately, the unit was disarmed and retreated.

At the four-party talks between Russia, the EU, the U.S. and Ukraine in Geneva, Russia demanded that Ukraine assume a federal system of government and agree to granting eastern regions autonomy, while Ukrainian leaders understand very well that full federalization opens a path to Russian annexation though they claimed to be prepared to consider the devolution of some powers to the regions.

There is no mystery regarding the presence of Russian military in eastern Ukraine, dressed as well armed ethnic Russian Ukrainians, without identifying signia, urging action upon Russian speakers in emulation of what had expeditiously turned the tide in Russia's favour in Crimea. Men equipped with machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket launchers are not persuasively local. Ukrainian commanders believe at least some of the gunmen are Russian soldiers, leading the way, inciting to rebellion.

And Russia has sternly warned Ukraine that an armoured offensive in the eastern region would not be countenanced by Russia. "You can't send in tanks and at the same time hold talks. The use of force would sabotage the opportunity offered by the four-party negotiations in Geneva", warned that master of hypocrisy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

And for its part, NATO too has issued warning shots across the bow, aimed at the Kremlin. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen vowed that its aircraft will fly increased sorties over the Baltic, and ensure that allied ships are deployed to the Baltic Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean, as required. "We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land."

The sound and the fury is there, but there is something elementally fundamental somehow lacking.