By Amanda Wills
A Ukrainian military convoy near Donetsk, Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers are assembling approximately 12 miles (20 km) from the city of Donetsk after clashes with pro-Russian separatists throughout the eastern part of the country on Thursday.
The insurgents once again tried to seize control of the Donetsk airport, the site of a bloody battle in May that took place just one day after the presidential election.
Mashable's Christopher Miller, reporting from Donetsk, confirms seeing several armored vehicles and trucks carrying rebel fighters armed with heavy artillery and moving toward the airport.
"Shortly after, huge plumes of black smoke. Burst of gunfire. Sporadic explosions, likely from rocket-propelled grenades," Miller said.
The battle was brief, and there's no word yet on casualties.
There was also a fight in Karlivka, which is about 65 miles from Donetsk, on Thursday. Ukrainian forces claimed victory in that battle.
However, Miller noted that these small skirmishes hint that both sides may be preparing for a bigger fight on the horizon in eastern Ukraine.
Divisions appear among the pro-Russia separatists
Pavel Gubarev, the self-proclaimed governor of the Donetsk People's Republic, told Mashable on Wednesday that rebel forces would have "victory or death."
However, divisions are starting to appear among the pro-Russia separatists fighting the Ukrainian government, especially as it becomes more and more evident that Russia isn't going to send in forces due to political pressure from the West.
We would like to receive help in the form of Russian forces. But we are realists and understand that's impossible," Gubarev said during a news conference on Thursday
The head of one influential rebel battalion in eastern Ukraine said he will not submit to the command of the military leader of the separatist insurgency Igor Girkin, known after his war name "Igor Strelkov".
Vostok commander Alexander Khodakovsky also said Thursday he would not abandon the rebel-held city of Donetsk, even if ordered to do so. Though no such order has been issued, rebel troops did flee from their stronghold in Sloviansk last weekend.
Rebel commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the so-called Vostok battalion - or eastern battalion - speaks during an interview in Donetsk, July 8, 2014.
Deep strains emerged Thursday, July 10th 2014., in the ranks of Ukraine's pro-Moscow insurgents as dozens turned in their weapons in disgust at Russian inaction and bickering broke out between rebel factions.
In the past two weeks, Ukrainian government troops have grown better equipped and more confident by the day. Once fearful of losing further pieces of Ukraine to Russia, they have shifted their strategy to containing the insurgents, whose pleas to join Russia have been ignored by President Vladimir Putin.
Pushed back into Ukraine's eastern industrial city of Donetsk, the pro-Russia militias appear to be focusing their efforts now on hit-and-run operations, bombing transportation links and bracing for more assaults from government forces.
Signs of a rift within the rebellion became evident Thursday when the head of the influential Vostok battalion announced he would not submit to the authority of the military leader of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Girkin.
Girkin, a Russian better known by his assumed name Strelkov, has attained hero status among supporters of the insurgency. Ukrainian authorities have identified him as a former Russian military intelligence agent active in taking over Crimea before Russia annexed it in March.
Yet he has also been criticized by some for leading the rebel withdrawal last weekend from the eastern city of Slovyansk, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Donetsk, reportedly to protect civilian lives.
Vostok commander Alexander Khodakovsky alluded to that.
"There cannot be a single leader giving orders," he declared. "Because if Strelkov suddenly decides what he wants is — in the interests of protecting the lives of Donetsk citizens and the lives of militiamen — to abandon Donetsk, then we will not follow his orders."
Khodakovsky was speaking in Makiivka, a town just outside Donetsk, where his men relocated after a reported falling-out with Strelkov.
The ill will also appears to stem from a feeling among the rebels that Russia has done too little to help them.
"Strelkov is a military officer of non-local domicile, while we are locals and will not, therefore, allow the people of Donetsk to remain without our support and protection," Khodakovsky said.
"Strelkov could go back to Russia whenever he wanted", he noted.
In another sign of deteriorating morale among the rebels, several dozen militia fighters garrisoned in a university dorm in Donetsk abandoned their weapons and fatigues in their rooms Thursday.
"Russia abandoned us. The leadership is bickering. They promise us money but don't pay it. What's the point of fighting?" said 29-year old Oleg, a former miner.
Oleg, who declined to give his surname for fear of being punished for desertion, said he had served in the militia for a month and planned to go home to Makiivka.
Strelkov has admitted substantial difficulties enlisting the support of the locals in eastern Ukraine.
"In truth, the number of volunteers for the several million-strong population of Donbass, for a mining region where people are used to dangerous and difficult work, has been somewhat low," he told a rebel-run TV station this week. "It is very difficult to protect this territory with the forces at our disposal."
At a news conference, the prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic dismissed talk of infighting.
In the past two weeks, Ukrainian government troops have halved the amount of territory held by the rebels. Now they are vowing a blockade of Donetsk.
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