As Ukraine Rebel Chiefs Die Far From Front, the Blame Ricochets<br />His unit, Mr. Motuzyanik said, suffered heavy losses in a recent flare-up of fighting near the town of Avdiivka, creating "many enemies<br />and ill-wishers." The other victims of the assassinations include Arsen Pavlov, who went by the nickname Motorola and was killed in the elevator bombing; Aleksei Mozgovoy, a former restaurant cook turned commander of a unit called the Ghost Brigade; and Aleksandr Bednov, who went by the nickname Batman.<br />Russian wrote that I ask you again,<br />The staccato of about half a dozen assassinations of commanders in the Russian-backed separatist army in eastern Ukraine has become<br />one of the riddles of the war there since 2015, when the first unexplained killings of Cossack militia leaders occurred.<br />The assassinations have caused enough worry among rebel commanders<br />that a year ago Aleksandr Khodakovsky, leader of the Vostok battalion, insinuated a Russian role in a post on the social network LiveJournal.<br />The assassinations could ease peace talks; Ukraine had refused direct negotiations with<br />the rebel leadership as long as men it deemed war criminals held senior posts.<br />The European Union placed Mr. Pavlov, a Russian citizen, on sanctions lists after he boasted in an interview of<br />shooting 15 Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner during the fight for the Donetsk city airport in 2015.<br />The authorities in Kiev say the deaths point to either infighting in the separatist leadership or efforts<br />by Russia to consolidate control by eliminating erratic, if popular, local commanders on their own side.
