No kidding…all those former militia in the DPR and LPR…became part of the Russian military when the territories joined the RF. And they have gotten better equipped trained experienced…and dedicated.
That’s over 60,000 men and they are fighting on their own land for their own villages…unlike the Uke conscripts scraped from the Trans Carpathia, and other areas far away from the frontlines in Donbass.
“And they have gotten better equipped trained experienced…and dedicated.”
They have good motivation to keep the Ukrainians out of the Donbas now. There is going to be some nasty ethnic cleansing.