IN LUHANSK, a shabby mining city near Ukraine’s eastern border, the fighting sounds like the rumble of distant thunder. Smoke rises to the north, where apartment blocks fade into tightly packed cottages and allotments. Outside the dilapidated hospital, “Chechens” (shorthand for Russian and Caucasian mercenaries who are the backbone of the insurgency) lounge in a truck. Muscled and swaggering, with kerchiefs knotted round their heads, they are a far tougher proposition than the locals who make up the rank and file. Several hundred are said to be barracked in student hostels.For the government in Kiev, the only solution may in the end be military. Fuelled by Russian weapons and propaganda, the insurgency has no clear leadership. Over 30 groups control different towns and buildings in the cities, where fragile truces between militias and mayors preserve a semblance of normality. In Donetsk, firmly under insurgent control, a “People’s Republic” issues journalists with accreditation cards. The minister for humanitarian aid, his manbag and loafers in striking contrast with colleagues’ pseudo-military dress, shows off medicine and food for distribution to refugees. That the locks have been torn off the office doors, he admits, has led to pilfering. An unpleasant smell hints at the absence of a minister for cleaning.A couple of streets away, municipal services are still run from…