At around 12:30, contact was lost with an AN-26 aircraft of Ukraine's Armed Forces that was on a mission to support air transport during the active phase of the Anti-Terrorist Operation. Ukraine's military immediately began a search & rescue operation. Eventually the crew was able to reestablish contact. Andriy Lysenko, spokesperson for the National Security Council's News & Analysis Center, reported at the Center's evening briefing, July 14, 2014, that the Minister of Defense was able to report to the President of Ukraine that the crew managed to eject from the shot-up craft and parachute to safety. The airplane was apparently flying at 6,500 meters, a height at which no portable Zenit rocket launcher that is available to the terrorists today could have hit the craft. That is, the AN-26 was hit from a more powerful weapon that was used most likely from inside Russian Federation territory. Based on available data provided by the Ukrainian pilots, two versions are possible: the shot came from a modern ground-to-air Pantsyr [Armor] gun or from a homing rocket of the X-24 air-to-air class from a Russian aircraft that could have taken off from Milierovo Airport.
As a result of battles in the last 24 hours, 3 servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have died and 12 were injured. All the injured soldiers have been moved to medical facilities to receive the necessary treatment.
President Petro Poroshenko held a council today with the heads of the country’s various forces agencies. To improve the impact of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, he issued orders to the intelligence group, the Security Bureau and the General Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The next meeting of the National Security Council of Ukraine will focus on this as well.
The Head of State tasked Roman Romaniv, General Director of Ukroboronprom, the state arms corporation, with increasing the effectiveness of armed actions and improving the level at which soldiers in the ATO zone are being armed, within a week.
The President also told the head of the General Command and the Interior Minister that population centers that are being abandoned by the militants need to immediately have civil government restored, in order to take care of the needs of their residents, restore infrastructure, organize a return to peaceful civilian life, and ensure that social benefits are paid out.
Population centers in the conflict zone
In those areas where fighting has ceased, systematic efforts are underway to restore population centers to a viable state. In Kramatorsk, for instance, billboards saying “Kramatorsk is Ukraine” have appeared in the town and water supplies have been renewed in the Lazurne neighborhood. In Mariupol, a rally was held to celebrate one month since the city was liberated from the bandit formations, during which demonstrators unfurled the largest flag of Ukraine. More than 1,000 people took part in the rally.
In Sloviansk, nearly 70% of the residential population has had power restored and water is once again being supplied through the #9 water supply line in Chervoniy Molochar and Cherevkovka. Passenger transport has started up again to distant villages like Tsilynniy and Sobolivtsi. City residents continue to clean up rubbish and checkpoints on the city streets. All those who need it are being provided with humanitarian assistance. In Sloviansk County, vital services are being restored. For instance, in half the suburban neighborhoods of Sloviansk, 14 micro districts, power has resumed, as well as in the towns of Mykolayivka and Vysokoivanivka, partly in the Tsilynniy neighborhood and in downtown Sloviansk. This adds up to more than 70% of what needs to be restored. Pumping Stations #1 and #2 of the Voda Donbasu water company have resumed working. Water services have been renewed in two of Sloviansk’s neighborhoods and partly in the downtown area.
In the towns of Siversk and Novoukrainskiy in Artemivsk County, power has been restored, buses are running again and potable water is being trucked in.
The pyrotechnic units of the State Emergencies Service defused 408 explosives in Sloviansk and Sloviansk County from July 6 through 13. Of these, 307 were landmines and 100 were unexploded shells. Another 2,268 explosive munitions were also defused.
Ukraine’s sappers checked 15 road bridges and inspected a slew of administrative and other buildings for the presence of explosive materials, 12 of them in the last 24 hours. Among these were 4 buildings of the Sloviansk CHP and the Vitryla Nadiyi Children’s Shelter.
In the last week, Ukrainian servicemen unloaded 140 t of humanitarian assistance.
[hr] Source: mediarnbo.org Translated by Lidia Wolanskyj
