The Reuters footage shows a local rescue worker pulling out the FDR. This is not a rebel.Also I've seen a video where one of the rebels searching the area carried off one of the recorders. So their claim that they have them is valid if you ask me.
The rebels are the armed separatist militia who have declared independence of the Donetsk province from Ukraine and are seeking attachment to Russia, in the same way as Crimea did with Russian support. Many locals seem to have supported the local referendum and actually prefer to be part of Russia rather than Ukraine, even though the West claims that it was all fabricated.
The newly elected government of Ukraine doesn't want to recognise this declaration the same way it refutes the Crimea attachment to Russia and have been fighting the militia, trying to force the province to stay part of Ukraine.
Russia hadn't responded to the request yet and were seeking dialogue.
Groups of local Ukrainian troops have decided to join the Donetsk militia rather than withdraw from the area.
http://wtfrly.com/2014/05/21/ukrainian- ... 8wzPvkZPLo
Let's be honest with ourselves, the Kiev revolution was stupid. Kiev people did what was probably right for Kiev itself, but haven't asked the rest of the people's opinion.
The new government has little support from their military, who were under command of a pro-Russian leaders just months ago. Over 5000 Ukrainian troops defected to Crimea/Russia.
I think that Russia was intending to send troops into the Donetsk province, but this incident may have been created to avoid that. From a Ukrainian perspective, the death of 300 non-nationals would be a cheap price to pay if they could keep the Donetsk province, which is quite important to the Ukrainian economy.
The Kiev people are hoping that the EU would accept Ukraine into it, but the EU can't afford it as Ukraine's entire industry is oriented towards Russia. A great example: Antonov.