As you may have heard over the weekend, Russia's "little green men"—Russian troops in unmarked uniforms—and Russian-backed insurgents resumed open warfare in eastern Ukraine, shelling cities and killing civilians. Around ten people (some say six, some say thirteen) were killed when a mortar hit a bus stop in Donetsk and somebody (but everyone seems to think it was the Russians) fired Grad rockets into Mariupol, killing around 30 civilians.

"Grad rockets are very indiscriminate and cause a lot of damage and civilian casualties when launched toward cities," writes Chris Collison, who's been filing dispatches for Slog from Kiev and Crimea—starting with the Occupy-style uprising that ousted the country's Russian-backed president early last year and continuing on through the Russian invasion. If you want to play catchup, here are his dispatches from Ukraine. though these photos from the uprising and this report from Crimea are two that particularly stick in my mind.

"It's unclear why civilian areas are getting hit by shelling," he continued. "It could just be bad marksmanship. Both sides blame each other whenever civilians get killed, although with the Grads there is pretty clear evidence that they came from insurgent-controlled areas."

The country's destabilization is showing up in all kinds of ways beyond the obvious. Chris took the photo below of a Kiev movie theater that burned down. The police suspect arson. The fire was started, Chris writes, during an LGBTQ-related film that was part of a festival—activists say the fire was timed to make it look like a hate crime, but suspect the building was really burned for business reasons. Developers apparently coveted the building and might have used the country's social chaos as cover for what was actually a land grab.

And one more, just because they're such gorgeously haunting images. You can find more of Chris's excellent work at leavethewestbehind.com.

Chris also sent links to a few videos, including this drone footage after shelling of the Donetsk airport. Insurgents pushed out Ukrainian forces in what Chris says was "the most intense fighting of the entire conflict. Losing that was a huge symbolic blow to the Ukrainian side."

He also forwarded this footage of a man running around Mariupol, trying to document the aftermath of the attack. Warning: There are a few brief but graphic images of casualties, both wounded and apparently dead, that the cameraman gets to before the authorities do. One of the most startling things about the footage is how calm everybody seems as they walk past new craters and flaming wreckage:

How far west will Russia and the insurgents push towards Kiev?

"I don't know," Collison writes. "The fighting is now taking place west of the buffer zone carved out during ceasefire talks in September." He also says there are reports of militants—either Russian or Russian-backed insurgents—encircling Ukrainian troops near Debaltseve, "a government-held city which acts as a transportation hub between between the two major insurgent-held cities of Luhansk and Donetsk."

Kiev, he says, is "calm" though with a "prevailing feeling of helplessness." People hold peace rallies but they're gloomy and fatalistic-feeling.

During the Maidan Square occupation in Kiev, citizens formed militias to fight back against the police (who had been put in the horrible situation of being ordered to fire on their own citizens, including sniper fire). Are people in western Ukraine starting to think about civilian self-defense if the army gets pushed back by Russian forces?

Collison writes:

Ukraine already has quite a few militias fighting in the east. The volunteer battalions have played a huge role in the conflict. If it weren't for the volunteer forces, the front lines would almost certainly be a lot further west.

The Ukrainian army is notoriously disorganized and ill-equipped for war after years of neglect following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the conflict broke out, there has been some movement to restructure the military, but change is slow—even during times of war.

The battalions are probably Ukraine's greatest asset and their biggest liability. On the one hand, they are full of patriotic young men who are willing to put their lives on the line to defend Ukrainian territory. But on the other, there is a feeling of entitlement among the ranks. The battalions are made up of a lot of guys who stood on Maidan last year, and now they are on the front lines. When the conflict ends and the volunteers come back to Kyiv, they are going to have a lot of demands for the government.

This is an angle I want to explore while I'm in the east.

Stay safe, Chris.