On the afternoon of April 14, a group of police officers lined up outside their ransacked headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian town of Gorlovka to receive orders from their new commander. Just a few hours earlier, their station had been stormed by a pro-Russian mob. Rather than resist, the officers defected. Greeting them now outside the building with a military salute was the leader of the mob, a man in fatigues with a drill sergeant's swagger. On a video later posted to YouTube, he stated his rank as lieutenant colonel. "Of what?" a policeman asked. "Of the Russian army," the man replied. For weeks, Ukrainians have worried that Vladimir Putin might direct his army to seize their country's pro-Russian east. Instead, the Russian leader seems to have opted for a more subtle conquest reminiscent of his Crimea grab. Coordinated local groups, apparently led by professionals from across the border, have been seizing government buildings in several cities in Ukraine's east and declaring their independence from Kiev.
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