audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Since April, when pro-Russia separatists took control across the industrialized eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, a cast of characters have come and gone in the rebel leadership. Operating just north of Kozitsyn's territory, in the Luhansk region, Alexei Mozgovoi the commander of a unit called the 'Ghost Brigade' has declared himself the commander of Alchevsk, a city of about 120,000 people known for its massive iron and steelworks plant. In October, he ordered the execution of a man convicted of rape by a people's court of fewer than 300 people. Mozgovoi later said women would be arrested for stepping foot in the city's bars to protect their virtue. It remains to be seen how the situation with Luhansk's various leaders will play out. Many talk of being part of a larger independent territory called Novorossiya, or 'New Russia', which includes all of eastern and southern Ukraine. Despite a September 5 cease-fire, fighting has continued. U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the supreme allied commander in Europe for NATO, said that the region was on the way to becoming a frozen conflict.
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Nov. 30, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - ALEXEI MOZGOVOY, commander of the Ghost Brigade, strokes a cat.
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Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - Soldiers of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade.
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Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - Icons and lit candles are seen at a base of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade.
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Oct. 30, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - DON COSSACKS, member of Alexei Mozgovoi's Prizrak (Ghost) Battalion, patrols territories outside the village of Kirovsk.
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Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk, Ukraine - Soldiers of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade with guns line up in a row.
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Oct. 30, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - DON COSSACKS, member of Alexei Mozgovoi's Prizrak (Ghost) Battalion, is seen at a checkpoint on the entrance to the village of Kirovsk.
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Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - A soldier of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade at a base.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - A soldier of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - A soldier of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade smokes a cigarette.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - A soldier of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade talks about his beads.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Nov. 29, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - Soldiers of the international detachment of Alexei Mozgovoy's Ghost Brigade play chess.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Nov. 30, 2014 - Lugansk Region, Ukraine - ALEXEI MOZGOVOY, commander of the Ghost Brigade, smokes a cigarette.
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
