Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – August 20, 2014

byVoices of Ukraine

21/08/2014

4 minute read

Brothers and sisters!

Here’s the Summary for August 20, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for August 19).

The bad news:

1. “Humanitarian aid” from Russia is nonetheless entering into Ukraine–the last report was that the first group of trucks have entered into the transit zone of the Russian checkpoint of “Donetsk.” The National Security and Defense Council [NSDC] reported that Ukrainian customs and border control guards will start inspection and clearance of cargo “not earlier than Thursday.”

What abomination to expect from this special operation of the Kremlin’s–is anyone’s guess. Moscow still failed to explain any “water-salt” contents of the cargo and the method of withdrawal of its transport back to Russia. Nor have we heard any clear commentary on this “aid” from the Red Cross. A lot of questions and bad forebodings.

Editor’s note: recent reports say that the first 8 white trucks have crossed the border into Ukraine now. Photo: Andrew Roth, NYT Moscow Bureau tweet.

2. The Adviser to the Interior Minister A. [Anton] Gerashchenko said that the Ministry of Defense delays the issuing of heavy weapons for the Specialized Battalions of the Ministry of the Interior, whereas the latter “take the fight to the terrorists armed with Grads, canons, armored vehicles, [thus] assisting our Armed Forces.”

We clarified this situation for ourselves back in June. The Defense Ministry explained to us that for arms transfers to another agency, there is a statutory procedure, and such issues are not resolved in [only] two days. In what kind of time period is it possible to resolve this issue–we were unable to find out.

At the same time, the General Staff, in informal conversations, are of the opinion that the Specialized Battalions of the Ministry for the Interior should not operate as assault units by definition, because that’s what the army is for. And the Interior Ministry units must comply with the relevant tasks–to carry out the clearing of settlements and restore law and order in the liberated territories.

This may well be so, but it is necessary to ensure an ideal interaction between the divisions and the units of the Interior Ministry and the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] so that every man does only his job–in particular, so that the army [can] promptly destroy any heavy equipment in the path of these same Specialized Battalions. Which, unfortunately, we do not see. So, there is one of two things remaining–either solve the problem with interaction or arm the Specialized Battalions with heavy weapons.

3. The territories controlled by the insurgents in Donbas finally plunged into an abyss of lawlessness – from terrorists thriving by looting.

According to our data, in cities occupied by terrorists, residents are trying to sell movable property for a pittance, which the fighters for Putin’s idea did not have time to “squeeze out” [from them]. A decent car can be bought from the owner for 1-2,000 Hryvnias [USD $75.50–151]. However, for a “squeezed” auto, terrorists can give a couple of cartons of cigarettes. What a sad picture of the “Russian world” …

The good news:

1. A significant part of Luhansk is under the control of our forces, the freeing of Donetsk is underway as well.

I distinguish these two red dots on the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] map for one reason: the liberation of these two towns has a huge, so to speak, military and political meaning in the context of the conflict in Donbas. Since their liberation will be a major blow to Putin’s project of “Novorossiya” [New Russia], it’s two nails with one blow in the lid of a double coffin for the DNR and LNR [Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics]. I have no doubt about the fact that this will soon happen.

Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

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Німецький відеопроект хоче взяти у вас інтерв’ю

Дорогі друзі, У мене з німецьким блогером народилася ідея серії коротких відео-інтерв'ю з українськими активістами. Особливість проекту в…

byEuromaidan Press Contributor

Archive

February 24: In Debalceve all “red lines” were once again crossed by Russia

February 24 – 1 Ukrainian military was killed and 7 were injured in the ATO area in the last 24 hours, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

February 24 – Prosecutor General of Ukraine is preparing to charge twenty employees of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) with organizing and participating in mass shootings of protesters during the Revolution of Dignity (in Ukraine) in February 2014.

February 24 – Terrorists are transferring military machinery and manpower closer to Mariupol direction, – said NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

February 24 – If Mariupol is seized, this could become the last psychological barrier needed by the West to change its policies and would mean the death of armistice agreements, – said Marshal of the Sejm of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski, reports Newsweek Polska.

February 24 – At a meeting of the State Council of Defence of Lithuania it has been decided to initiate a return to compulsory military service. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has compulsory military service may be needed due to changes in the region's geopolitical situation.

February 24 – Poland has sent a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry with a request to provide the wreckage of Tu-154 M, which "crashed" near Smolensk in April 2010. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and almost the entire political elite of Poland were killed in this airplane crash.

February 24 – Ukraine believes that it is necessary to reform the UN Security Council considering the fact that a member of the Security Council is now an aggressor, – stated Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis at a briefing, when commenting on the situation with Russia frequently blocking decisions on Ukraine.

February 24 – In Paris, foreign ministers of "Normandy Four" have failed to reach an agreement regarding the situation in Debaltseve, – informed Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin after the meeting, reports BBC: "Unfortunately, there was no political decision on how to regard what happened in Debaltseve".

February 24 – "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper has published a summary of the document describing Kremlin's scenario on events in Ukraine. The document contains a phased plan of dismantling Ukraine as a state. The text has been made public on newspaper's website. When planning a war in Ukraine, Putin's entourage hoped to start dismantling Ukraine from Crimea and Kharkiv oblasts, not Donetsk. The document was presented to Putin between February 4 and 12, 2014 – before Yanukovych fled to Russia.

February 24 – Official Kyiv is appealing to the international community to formulate new sanctions against Russia for not fulfilling the Minsk agreements – speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Yevhen Perebyinis: "By their actions Russia is demonstrating that it has no intentions of fulfilling the Minsk Agreements, in particular, to immediately remove, as it is stipulated by the agreement, their soldiers and artillery from the territory of Ukraine. In this situation we are convinced, that in the world community there remains no other choice than to force Russia towards peace by creating new, more active restrictive efforts."

According to him, "all" "red lines" were once again crossed by Russia, and therefore stopping Kremlin is only possible through immediate consolidated acts of the whole civilized world."

As is known, after the signature of the Minsk Agreement of February 12th, the fighters did not stop the firing and took over Debaltseve, left by the Ukrainian army. Also Russia decided to "exclude from the Minsk Agreement" the release of the captured by it, Nadiya Savchenko, by which it invoked indignation in Ukraine. Nadiaya Savchenko is presently in her 74th day of a hunger strike.

What has happened to Colonel Mamchur

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