now if they would also stop the attacks on the Ukrainian military during the cease fire they also agreed to abide by.

Some morons are always breaking ceasefires. An actual national military, with functioning C&C, can usually stick to a ceasefire. In this situation, who knows how many splinter gangs there are among the wanna-be Russians?

Still, a good sign. It looks as though the Eastern 'rebels' are starting to get the picture that Putin's not going to let them join up, and that the Ukranian military is getting pretty serious.

As one of them, Gubarev, posted on his Facebook page, "The Donbas is the heart of Russia." There can be no ceasefire until the heart of Russia's liberated. Girkin, the military leader in Slavyansk, is on the same page (although it's likely Girkin is actually calling the shots; Girkin is from Russia, but was in Crimea in February/March and in Transdniestria in the '90s).

Gubarev's a bit at odds with the Donetsk political leader Borodai (the military leader nearby, Bezler, aka "Bes" 'demon', is silent) who requires a 10 km buffer zone and various other preconditions before a ceasefire. Bolotov, in Luhansk, have made his positions clear, even as he nationalizes (or tries to nationalize) things and has told banks that in a couple of weeks they'll be converting to the ruble: All Ukraine troops must get out of "their" territory, hostages must be released, border crossings under Bolotov's control, etc., etc.

Borodai is vaguely capitalist; Bolotov is quasi-Stalinist Communist and the CP in Luhansk has gone over with the nationalist Party of Regions to his side pretty much entirely. But both are arch-nationalists and have been for over a decade, wanting to be part of the "Russian world" and/or Eurasia, with all the ideological baggage that entails. Borodai was even a polit-sci columnist of sorts agitating for this viewpoint, while IIRC it was Bolotov (maybe Gubarev, I need more coffee) who was part of the Russian front which had a paramilitary wing and openly called for a two-tiered system of rights and privileges in Russia (which was to be aligned, culture and political boundaries, so that all Russians were in Russia and Russia protected all Russians--other ethnicities were allowed, but clearly 2nd string).

Then there's the Russian Orthodox Army, which is openly religious and requires not just Orthodoxy as the governing faith, but *Russian* Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy in Ukraine is messy--there's the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukraine Patriarchal Orthodox Church, and a newer Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the '90s.

The problem with ideologues is that they are true and righteous. What they do is personal and moral, and to deviate from their morality is to become evil and false. They are on a Crusade and they--and only they--represent the people. Such people die for their cause or need to become disillusioned with their cause.