Brothers and sisters!
Here’s the Summary for September 4, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for September 3, 2014).
The bad news:
1. Russian occupiers clearly set Mariupol as their next target. Today, a battle took place under Shyrokyno. But it was – regular combat reconnaissance.
We don’t yet know how much blood will be spilled to defend Mariupol. According to our data, the Ukrainian command is also gathering a formidable force around the city – in fact, rather than just in word. The residents of Mariupol are also ready to stand and defend their city with their lives. This gives us hope that the tricolor plague will not pass [through].
At the same time, there is a threat of an active offense of Russian terrorist troops, even in the nearest hours. The enemy may try to capture as much territory as possible before any peace talks take place – that will be the area that Putin will try to turn into a “new Transnistria” in Donbas.
2. While the Kremlin is going on about its “plan for peace,” and fighting continues in Donbas, the Russians are busy deploying ever more new units to Ukraine. A substantial reserve force is on standby.
Today, the National Security and Defense Council [RNBO of Ukraine] reported 14 battalion task forces and nearly 1,000 pieces of military equipment in the borderland areas of Russia adjacent to Ukraine.
According to our own data, the number of battalion task forces is higher; plus, there are reports of company task forces as well as sabotage reconnaissance groups. We do not wish to argue with the RNBO, but one thing is clear – Moscow certainly does not look in the mood for peace talks.
3. The unsavory resonance continues around the commander of the Prykarpattya territorial defense battalion, arrested for unauthorized departure from the ATO area. It becomes one of the many reasons [for soldiers] to express strong disapproval towards the military command, and to declare battlefield deserters to be heroes.
Personally, I am in no hurry to lock horns with anyone about this situation, and other similar ones. Let us remember that everyone has their own version of the truth (and by the way, because of the abandonment by some units of their positions, our troops recently ended up in the “boiler” entrapments, which resulted in significant loss). To establish the true picture – is the task of the investigation. If someone is then in disagreement with its conclusions – then we can argue.
At the same time, justice cannot be selective – especially in wartime. If the battalion commander sits behind bars, there is a place there as well for those gentlemen in the ranks and positions higher who also abandoned their forces and ran, as well as those whose mistakes or inaction result in the deaths of our guys.
For example, today, the Azov Battalion informed [us] that the rashists destroyed the battalion’s fortified area and the border guards, because of “generals who spent two hours promising accurate artillery fire – but then did nothing.” Should the names of these generals be communicated to the Military Prosecutor’s office, and the situation examined under close public scrutiny? One general punished today can mean hundreds, if not thousands of lives saved tomorrow.
Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
