Major General Borys Kremenetsky, head of the Ukrainian group at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) that is working with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), believes that Russian-proxy forces have set a goal of destroying as much critical infrastructure as possible before winter in order to place the region on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, JCCC Press Officer Ruslan Semeniuk reports on the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation) press center Facebook, August 8.
The JCCC, which includes representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, was set up to coordinate the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Donbas.
According to Kremenetsky, the terrorists are trying not only to destroy as much critical infrastructure as possible but also to prevent any repair work by launching attacks of the repairmen.
For example, on August 7, at 11:10, as repair work was being done on one of the three branches of the water supply system for the town of Spartak, on the western outskirts of Donetsk, militants of the ORDO terrorist group deliberately fired on the repair crews working on the Donbas Water utility as well as on the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) observers from the OSCE. When the bombs began to explode within 600 meters of the workers, the repair work stopped and the repair crews and observers left the dangerous area.
The terrorists traditionally accuse the Armed Forces of Ukraine of this kind of bombardment. However, observers from the JCCC and the SMM OSCE, who were at the Avdiivka observation post across from Spartak, did not observe any initial firing from the Ukrainian positions during this time, Kremenetsky reports.
Later, supposedly “in response,” the terrorists began to fire with 122 mm artillery systems, 120 mm mortars and small arms on territory that is already controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus Shakhta Butovka and the region of Stara Avdiivka were bombarded. Additionally, at 11:15, the terrorists fired 82 mm mortars on two work crews that were restoring railroad tracks and water supply pipes at the Mayorsk water station. According to their safety protocol, SMM OSCE observers left the dangerous area. JCCC officers brought the repair workers out of the danger area and took all measures to stop the fire. After the “regime of silence” was renewed, work in the area continued until the next bombardment, which began at 14:00. As of 14:00 on August 8, the repair work in the town of Mayorsk has been fully completed.
The most difficult situation has occurred on neutral territory in the so-called “gray zone.” Due to constant violations by the terrorist of the “regime of silence” guarantees, restoring connections there has been extremely difficult.
On Saturday, August 8, railroad workers began work on the Mayorsk-Nikitovka stretch of track to clear out fallen electricity poles from the railroad tracks. To do this they had entered the “gray zone” on a trolley equipped with a crane. But within 10 minutes of starting work the ORDO terrorist group opened mortar fire and the repair workers had to return to a safe area. Thanks to interference by JCCC management, ORDO again provided guarantees for the safe completion of work. Repair work is continuing on the Mayorsk-Nikitovka stretch of the railroad.
“Attempts by the armed groups to destabilize the situation in Eastern Ukraine are not stopping,” Major General Borys Kremenetskyi concludes.
He believes the terrorists are trying to destroy as much of critical infrastructure as possible before the beginning of the heating season– communications, networks, residential and industrial buildings — to exacerbate the social situation and ultimately provoke a humanitarian catastrophe.