Ukrainian Carnage Leaves ‘Zombies’ Behind in Debaltseve
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On a snowy, empty highway, a couple and their son emerge from weeks of hiding, wandering in a hungry daze. A rebel truck, mangled by a land mine, is blocking the road. Half a dozen Ukrainian corpses, several burned, lie in a ditch.
The weeks-long battle for Debaltseve is over and the pro-Russian rebels have won. The Ukrainians made a bloody retreat. What remains -- apart from a smoldering ruin and exhausted survivors -- is a challenge to the U.S. and Europe in their attempt to deter the threat of President Vladimir Putin nibbling off other bits of eastern Ukraine.