DONETSK, Ukraine — When separatists here staged a referendum to break away from Ukraine last month, the vote was mocked in Western capitals as a Soviet-style farce.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Washington Post: Isolation deepens in breakaway Ukrainian region as separatists dream of New Russia
UKRAINE, Donetsk - Pro-Russian fighters of Vostok (East) battalion rip apart an Ukrainian flag outside a regional state building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on May 29, 2014.