LUHANSK — At number 63 Karl Marx Street, the tinted glass facade of the Ministry of Defense of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) stands insolently among the scenery of shattered windows and crushed roads.

On the snow-covered square in front of the church, a dozen of half-asleep men smoke cigarette after cigarette while they wait for the recruitment office to open. The fatigue, anxiety and cold make their legs shiver, but don’t dissuade them from joining the Luhansk people’s militia even after the ceasefire recently signed in Minsk.

At exactly 9 a.m., like every day, a soldier walks out of the building with a Kalashnikov under his arm and breaks the silence: “Good morning gentlemen, you have five seconds to form a nice straight line for me!” After throwing their cigarettes to the ground, the men hastily obey the order.

The soldier examines the row with an amused expression and, after a brief silence, authorizes the volunteers to enter the building: “Give your identity, your age and your service records at the main desk.”

One after the other, the volunteers follow each other, future tankers, artillerymen or cooks. After the cold minutes spent waiting, the last man in line finally moves forward. He sticks his chest out and declares: “Sergey Illich Ivanov, 45, technician. I came to enlist in the military air force.”

An air base closed in 1996

By announcing, on Jan. 15, 2015, the creation of the LPR air force, the separatists of eastern Ukraine claim they are now part of the very small club of armed militias that managed to equip themselves with the ability to carry out airstrikes. An important symbol for this city, of which the military history, as well as the industrial city, is closely linked to war aviation.

Beyond the saber rattling, this announcement — a communication campaign — could be a pretext for Russian air raids in Ukraine.

Where do these planes come from? The pro-Russians remain vague concerning the exact composition of the new air force. They mention a varied mix of planes captured during the summer and others displayed until now at the Luhansk aviation museum. On Jan. 17, the Russian government television networks LifeNews and Rossiya 24 were the first to film the inside of this former air base that closed down in 1996.

At Luhansk aviation museum — YouTube screenshot

They showed the head of the Luhansk people’s militia, Sergey Kozlov, as well as the vice-minister of defense Vitali Kisseliov, wearing his usual cap displaying the red star. They came to introduce their new arsenal. On the frozen runway, a training one-man Delfin L-29A carries out a demonstration in front of the cameras without ever taking off.

According to the report, the pilots are former military men trained during the Soviet era. Next to his biplane, the pilot Aram Avagian says: “This plane hasn’t flown for seven years. Needless to say we have had to replace a few parts.”

According to the Russian government network, the aircraft is now ready for combat, but no explanation is given regarding the replacement parts, or the origin of the kerosene, which is supposed to be unobtainable in separatist territory, but is abundant in Russia.

Cover-up for Russian aircraft?

Harmless on a military level at first glance, this separatist air force is seen as a serious threat by the Ukrainian army. On Jan. 27, the Ukrainian Ministry of defense announced the destruction of the entire rebel air force in the south east of Donetsk. According to a Kiev member of Parliament Boris Filatov: “This strike will wipe the smile off the face of the separatists, and make them think twice before bringing in planes from Mordor.”

Konstantin Mashovet, a military expert and advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, sets out the problem more clearly. “The separatists don’t have the logistics allowing them to maintain and supply a combat air force. The only explanation is that this so-called separatist force is simply a facade to cover-up the arrival of Russian aircrafts in the Ukrainian sky. Such an escalation has not been witnessed in this conflict yet.”

An analysis shared by Andrey Lyssenko, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, who expressed himself on the topic during a briefing on Jan. 18. “For the Ukrainians, the threat of a disguised Russian air attack will exist as long as the planes and the runways in the hands of the separatists are not incapacitated.”