Is Ukraine’s conflict heading into a new, bloody phase?

Moscow has declared it does not like the idea of Ukraine using drones against its proxies, and may be preparing a response, reports Oliver Carroll

Servicemen line up during an unveiling of the monument in memory of assassinated battalion commander of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Arseny Pavlov, who goes by the nom de guerre “Motorola”, in Donetsk. (REUTERS)

A combatant with a Russian passport, captured by Ukrainians in no-man’s land on 13 October. Ukraine’s first employment of the Turkish-made Bayraktar assault drone two weeks later. Suspicious tank movements along the border. More soldiers. Heightened rhetoric. Warnings, veiled and unveiled.

Eastern Ukraine, in short, is once again in the news.

The tensions are of immediate significance to besieged locals in the Donbass. From a few incidents daily, reports of ceasefire violations now number in the hundreds. Behind every one of those statistics is at a risk to local life.