Brothers and sisters!
Here’s the Summary for September 15, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for September 12, 2014).
The bad news:
1. Last weekend showed: that while rumors are breeding in the country about some secret Kyiv negotiations with Moscow on a “peaceful settlement” of the conflict in Donbas, Donbas itself became the scene of such a tense “peaceful” confrontation, that not every war quite measures up to it.
Russian-terrorist troops are frantically trying to squeeze out Ukrainian units and subdivisions from the positions occupied by them–especially in the vicinity of Donetsk, Avdiivka, Debaltseve, Volnovakha, Shchastya. Shellings and assaults do not stop. A subversive war is in full swing. The situation remains tense from the Sea of Azov to Donetsk: the opponent is fighting for the stretch of Shyrokyne–Telmanove–Dokuchajevsk–Mariinka–Krasnohorivka. A threat from the north is looming over Mariupol.
Ukrainian troops are holding [back] the onslaught. However, it is very clear already: we cannot count on even the most inferior peace, unfortunately.
2. And, as confirmation, today the great puppeteer Putin put his playful little hand into the puppet leader of the DNR Purgin, who announced with his own mouth: terrorists (read: the Kremlin) could care less about the sensational bill of President Poroshenko on “the special status” of certain districts of Donbas. “This is a bill for Ukraine. For the Donetsk People’s Republic, our own parliament creates the laws,” claimed the doll with Purgin’s face.
Gentlemen, what peaceful settlement can we talk about? Until the geopolitically autistic Putin manages to speak on his own, all the talk of the world is not worth more than the cheapest disposable razor, for which Purgin, judging by his permanently unshaven state, has no money.
3. The story of the return of the helicopter company Ukrainian Helicopters from their UN mission, which was so much talked about by all sorts of experts and politicians, has become a theater of the absurd. It is such an incredible story that I can’t help but tell you.
Let me remind you. In the midst of the ATO [someone] suddenly remembered that Ukraine had helicopters on UN missions. Naturally, there was some resonance around their return to Ukraine.
The company Ukrainian Helicopters, which manages these machines–leased from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, pointed to several factors. Firstly, the machines have been leased as scrap metal, and repaired at the company’s expense (which cost it, according to the Ukrainian Helicopters, over 400 million Hryvnias [$31 million]). Second, the Ministry of Defense received monthly lease payments in the amount of 3.57 million Hryvnias [$275,000] (plus charitable assistance of 14 million Hryvnias [$1 million], which the company transferred for the construction of military housing). And, thirdly, as reported by the company, punitive UN sanctions for breach of contract resulting from the withdrawal of helicopters from UN missions would amount to a little under 400 million Hryvnias [$31 million]. All this, according to the company representatives, should force those who demand the immediate return of the helicopters, to at least consider and weigh all the pros and cons.
But no one discussed it or weighed in [on the issue]. Well, let’s not argue, if it has to be done, it will be done–the country is at war, no disputes there. The company Ukrainian Helicopters complied with the demand and began to bring back the machines (at the present moment–8 helicopters [returned]) to Ukraine. And then the fun begins.
On August 21, the company signed an amendment to the lease agreement for the return of 8 leased helicopters to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine “by mutual agreement of the parties” and tried to give the machines back to the military. In response–[only] silence. Attempts to find those who will take the helicopters, whose return was accompanied by such excitement, amounted to nothing. Moreover, the military agency also ignores requests to use the company helicopters to evacuate the wounded, and besides, the company assumes responsibility for servicing these machines. As a result, on September 12, the company filed a claim with the Kyiv Commercial Court (it is worth considering their formulation) stating coercion by the Ground Troops Command of the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] to take back the leased helicopters!
If someone can understand this insanity, please explain. Personally, I completely fail to understand why it was necessary to break off the UN agreement and incur the punitive sanctions (by the way, this could mean the “departure” of Ukrainian companies from this relatively prestigious market, and their replacement by Russian carriers), to ruin the “peacekeeping” image of Ukraine, just to make sure that the Ukrainian military has no use for these military helicopters. If it was [done] for the benefit of the frontlines–[there would not be] any questions about it. But in this situation, who is responsible for this absurdity? Alas, there’s no answer.
The good news:
1. In the Lviv region, a joint Ukrainian-American exercise, “Rapid Trident 2014,” involving soldiers from 15 countries, was launched.
I see no reason to comment on the military and political importance of these exercises to Ukraine. Though it is what it is, it is at least some type of “military” assistance from the West. It’s not for nothing that the Kremlin, before its start, staged a howling ritual about the “destabilization of the situation in the region.”
It even pleases that, as reported by the Ministry of Defense, the “hybrid war” scenario, now used by Russia against Ukraine, will be practiced in the course of the exercises, including opposition to all sorts of provocations and informational aggressions.
Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
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