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Terrorist war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine: The Eastern Front as of September 1

By Roman Burko

Foreword

Due to objective reasons, we were forced to make an operational pause in posting information and analytical materials regarding the course of “Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas.” Beginning August 21, we started referring to things as they are, namely: TERRORIST WAR OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AGAINST UKRAINE.

We believe that, after a week of radio silence from our end, those who found our summaries and projections way too skeptical and improbable have become far less ardent. The likelihood of a strike in the direction of Mariupol; the accumulation of heavy machinery by Russian fighters in order to breakthrough along the key directions outlined in our previous materials; and the entrapment of Ukrainian troops as a result of either malicious or unintentional disregard of the need to bring up reinforcement (of course, assuming such a possibility existed) – all of this was mentioned in our publications on multiple occasions over the past month. This ship has sailed, as the saying goes, and there is no need to stir up the past. As is traditional, the relevant authoritative individuals should busy themselves with rewarding those who were not involved and condemning those who are innocent.

Also, in order to avoid any rumors and allegations that, by marking both parties to the conflict on situation maps, we get in the way of Ukrainian troops’ “covert” fight against the enemy, we have decided, as an experiment, to mark in red on the map only the enemy’s position, along with his projected strikes and maneuvers. This is certainly a serious drawback to visualization, but one can go to great lengths for the Motherland’s good. If only this would help, since the tendency to classify everything and to keep quiet about the actions of incompetent officials is starting to resemble the Soviet approach, where you classify everything that was messed up and eliminate any witnesses. But let’s put the lyrics aside. We won’t be criticizing or scolding anyone, nor will we blaming anything on the foolishness/treachery/obtuseness by certain individuals of responsibility. This turned out to be ineffective and, unfortunately, leads to no positive results. We also leave open the possibility that, perhaps, we are unable to observe all of the cause-and-effect relationships from our end. We will therefore try to optimize our work, to preserve its relevance and interest for our readers. Keep your powder dry. Glory to Ukraine!

The course of military operations

A number of stereotypes have fallen to pieces since our last summary. Those who claimed that Putin will not be openly invading Ukraine, but will instead continue sponsoring Donbas terrorists, while the ATO forces will continue slowly pushing the insurgents out and encircling them, had come head to head with yet another fatal error. Exactly as stated in our previous attempted warnings, the enemy started carrying out his plans for a full-scale operation in the south of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. In doing so, the Russian insurgents managed to introduce significant forces through a Marynivka border checkpoint (Luhansk oblast) and to let them pass south along the border to the town of Markivka, near Novoazovsk. What followed was a direct outcome of a clearly planned operation by the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Russian Federation.

Following several days of fighting, the Ukrainian forces withdrew from the town of Novoazovsk. Troops were diverted in the direction of Mariupol. Mariupol is now getting ready for defense. Volunteers monitoring the enemy’s Zello radio channels inform that there are now reports of Russian diversionary reconnaissance groups (DRG) stationed in Mariupol itself, and that these will attempt to destabilize the internal situation within the city in a synchronized manner in the event of an external assault by the enemy’s principal forces. Reports are coming in about the shelling of the M14 route and the ingress of the Russian troops towards Yalta (marked as DRG actions on the map). It is possible that the enemy will soon bring up additional reinforcement into this area.

Such a breakthrough in the southern direction has enabled the Russians to completely cut off the Amvrosiivka and the Starobesheve groupings of the ATO forces, which resulted in two pockets (both marked on the map symbolically, to avoid revealing the exact position). The latest reports indicate that our troops are trying to break out from the Starobesheve entrapment. As for the Amvrosiivka pocket, it is located in the deep rear of the enemy’s forces, and we hope it will be possible to resolve the situation favorably for the guys that remain there. Strikes on Volnovakha are expected in the nearest future. Incidentally, it turns out that a recent report of intercepted information on the Russian troops’ planned strikes in the areas of Kurakhovo, Fashiivka, etc. was not disinformation at all; this can already be regarded as an accomplished fact.

The Lutuhyne grouping of the forces failed to accomplish its mission without supplies. It will probably return to the main forces. As for the Luhansk airport, our troops were forced to retreat in the afternoon; thankfully, there were no casualties. Consideration should now be given to the destruction of the runway; otherwise, the airport could become a base for the enemy’s aviation, which is unacceptable. This is especially so in light of a recent report of the Russian aviation’s airstrike against the ATO positions in the area of Shchastia. Additionally, taking into account the accumulation of the enemy’s major attack forces in that area, the loss of Shchastia will open up the way to Novoaidar for Russian troops, and from there – to Starobilsk…

Debaltsevo has also come under a real threat, due to the ATO forces being pushed out from the southern districts, as well as due to the ongoing attempts to take over the Donetsk airport. In the event of it being seized, we could expect the movement of the enemy’s forces from Horlivka in the direction of the village of Myronivskyi and from the direction of Pervomaisk-Stakhanov-Brianka. This could result in yet another entrapment and the rapid seizure of Artemivsk. As far as the Lysychansk-Rubizhne-Sievierodonetsk triangle is concerned, the Russian insurgents won’t be in any rush there…

As described, the situation plainly demonstrates that we are almost fully transitioning from the elements of an anti-terrorist operation to an open positional war. This calls for a change in the operation’s command, since it shifts from an ATO into a military realm entirely; thus, the fronts should be under the command of experienced military specialists.

I realize that the news are far from rosy. Of course, there are instances of heroism, as well as of successful destruction of enemy machinery and weapons of the Russian aggressors. However, we are considering global changes, a shifting front line, and completed – as well as projected – strikes by the enemy. It is impossible to cover all of the directions, but the key is to avoid getting depressed; this is the last thing we would expect of our friends and readers. It is also crucial to make efforts, to the extent of one’s abilities, towards our common victory – while preserving complete confidence and faith in our common cause. The role that you take on in this struggle is irrelevant; everyone chooses the burden of responsibility that he/she is capable of carrying. The key is to remember that any, even at first seemingly minor, work could become that very drop that will finally wear away the heavy stone of the common misfortune that befall our Ukrainian land. After all, there’s no coincidence behind the theory that even a butterfly flapping its wing could cause a typhoon at the opposite end of the world

[hr]Source: informnapalm.org, translated by Olga Ruda, edited by Alya Shandra

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March 27 – Polish prosecutors charged two Russian flight operations officers with involvement in the crash of Tu-154 near Smolensk on April 10th, 2010 (the plane was carrying President Lech Kaczynski), reports Wprost. According to military prosecutor Ireneusz Shelonk, they are accused of creating a situation which resulted in immediate danger as well as inadvertently causing disaster within airspace. Warsaw plans to summon these flight operations officers for questioning as suspects. The airplane, which was carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and another 96 people, crashed, while landing in heavy fog and low visibility at an airfield Smolensk-North. All passengers and crew members died.

March 27 – During the night the militants fired at ATO positions 8 times as well as used heavy artillery – ATO's press center.

March 27 – First Deputy Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament Andriy Parubiy has said that Russia could try to carry out a large-scale invasion in the nearest future in order to have it over and dome with by May 9th, as planned by Putin. "Large number of troops is located close to the border of Ukraine with Russia. Many reports state, and this is no secret, that in the next week there is a high risk of large-scale military operation", – said Parubiy. "The operation must be carried out brilliantly before May 9th, believes Putin, and thus demonstrate the power of the Russian army. Therefore, we need lethal weapons not "when they invade Mariupol" but urgently".

March 27 – Every eight soldier joined the army on his own initiative, voluntarily. The plan of mobilization from January 20th to April 20th of 52,000 army obligated recruits into the Armed Forces of Ukraine has, as of today, been 76% fulfilled, informed at a briefing the Press Secretary of the General Staff, Vladislav Selezniov. According to him, every eight one of this number is a volunteer. Selezniov added that more than half of the plan of mobilizing of transport vehicles – the transfer of automobiles for the uses of the arm – has been fulfilled. Overall, in 2015, it is planned to call up into the army 104,000 individuals within the two mobilization stages. The first phase started on January 20th and will last for 90 days.

March 27 – Premier Arseniy Yatseniuk commissioned to involve European and American investigators in the battle against corruption in Ukraine. "Right now we have a form of the so-called international investigation commission, but I am asking that the Ministry of Internal Affairs to introduce a change in the law, so that we, according to the decision of the investigator, could involve into the carrying out of the investigative actions, professional representatives from the USA and separate EU countries, so that they could help us in the investigation of criminal cases, assist us in tracing the foreign assets and officials, and other people, suspected of corruption," he noted.

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Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria:

Taras Kuzio: far more Europeans join separatists in Donbas than Isis in Syria

This week, St Petersburg hosted a bizarre gathering organized by the Rodina (Motherland) party of 150 European fascist and nationalist-populist political parties united in their opposition to the EU and US and in support of Russia's annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Rodina is the loyal nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and consequently plays a similar role to the Radical Party's alliance with the Serbian Socialist party.

Russia's alignment with European fascist and nationalist-populist parties would seem to contradict official rhetoric that has incessantly attacked the Ukrainian Euromaidan leaders as a fascist junta brought to power by western intelligence agencies. It also, as Timothy Snyder of Yale University has pointed, out recalls uncanny memories of the 1939-1941 Soviet-Nazi Pact that also had the goal of dividing European powers.

One sinister outgrowth of Russia's cultivation of extreme right and extreme left parties and movements in Europe is the large mobilisation of people travelling to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to fight for pro-Russian separatists.

There has been understandable outcry over the three young British girls who travelled to Istanbul on February 17 on their way to join Isis, the brutal terrorist organization based in Syria and Iraq. But what has gone unnoticed is the hundreds – far more Europeans than have travelled to join Isis – who have joined Russian-backed terrorists fighting Ukraine's legitimately elected leaders. The BBC reported that the influx of foreign fighters into eastern Ukraine "mirrors that of young Muslims from Britain and other parts of Europe travelling to the Middle East to fight in its wars".

Russian-backed separatists have attracted an eclectic mix of extreme left and extreme right followers, nostalgic in the former case for the USSR and the Spanish civil war and in the latter drawn by a common anti-EU and anti-US platform with Putin and the Donbas separatists. Greeks, traditionally the most pro-Russian nationals in the EU, the Hungarian Legion of St Isztvan, Serbs, French, Germans, Spaniards and volunteers from former Soviet republics such as Kyrgyzstan are fighting alongside separatists widely condemned by the UN and international human rights groups for crimes against humanity.

The eclectic group has included 20 Frenchmen from the fascist organisation Continental Unity formed in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj. France's far right National Front party has strongly supported Russia's annexation of the Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine and has received a $10 million loan from Russia.

Not surprisingly, there are reportedly over 100 extreme right Serbs fighting for what they see as a common Orthodox religious faith and historic ally. Russian nationalist Igor Girkin "Strelkov" ("Shooter") who commanded Russian special forces in western Donbas until summer of 2014 had fought for the Bosnian Serbs in the 1990s.

One hundred extreme right Germans are fighting alongside the terrorists according to Die Welt. Stephan Mayer, a member of the ruling Christian Democrats, told Die Welt that Germans who participate in civil wars should be taken to court, although presently the German criminal code only punishes those who fight alongside Isis.

The Spanish Republican Guard detained a group of extreme left-wing Spaniards on their return from eastern Ukraine. Angel Davilla-Rivas, one of the Spaniards, has two big tattoos of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin and explained his decision to go to Eastern Ukraine as "gratitude" for Stalin's support for the Spanish Republicans in the 1930s.

British volunteers have not reportedly gone to fight for the Donbas separatists, although the National Front (NF) and UKIP have given their support to Putin, and the NF attended this weeks St Petersburg conference. The Conservative Friends of Russia, renamed the Westminster Russia Forum after a critical in-depthinvestigation by The Guardian, has been functioning as a pro-Kremlin lobby group with extensive support from Sergey Nalobin at the Russian Embassy in London.

British journalist Graham Phillips, who moved from the Conservatives to UKIP, has sent numerous pro-separatist reports for Russian media outlets and was detained on March 4 at Heathrow and questioned for four hours by Border Police under Schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act about his activities in the Donbas before being released without charge. The British Foreign Office is allegedly pressuring Phillips to halt his reporting from the Donbas.

Phillips does not hide his political sympathies for pro-Russian separatists and does not attempt to be impartial in a conflict zone, posting photos of him wearing lapel badges of Novorossiya (New Russia, the Tsarist term used by Putin and separatists to describe Eastern and Southern Ukraine) and cheering after separatists captured the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve.

Phillips' notoriety came into the public domain late last year when he interviewed Ukrainian prisoners and a wounded Ukrainian soldier. In the interviews, herepeatedly demands the prisoners explain why they have come to "murder civilians" and asks are they "ready to go home now and accept that it is Novorossiya here and not Ukraine". In the second interview Phillips aggressively interviews a severely burnt Ukrainian soldier prisoner.

European law enforcement have been understandably concerned at their citizens travelling to join Isis, yet they have largely ignored the many more far right and far left extremists that are fighting for pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. Recent detentions in Spain and the UK were hesitant, because law enforcement officers still lack political direction as to how to respond to Russia's support for the separatists.

P.S.: Please spread this appeal as much as possible.