Wednesday 3 September 2014

Ukraine civil war update - 09/02/2014

USAF military transporter lands at Kiev airport
В киевском аэропорту приземлился военный транспортник ВВС США


Yandex Translate

With full confidence we can say that the United States begin a new program of military aid to Kiev junta. Today at the airport of Kiev (Borispol) landed military transport aircraft for the us air force Boeing C-17 "Globemaster III". On Board that plane were well-known U.S. Senator Carl Levin, who all recently urged the White house to start supplying arms to Kiev and to recognize DND and LNR terrorist organizations. While Levin is the Chairman of the Senate armed services Committee.

That reception for Carl Levin in Kiev will be warm, you can judge by appointment of the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Payette on Twitter. This is the record:
Much more impressive than the C-17. Welcome the Chairman of the Committee on armed services, Senator Levin in Kiev.

The Ambassador Payette publishes pictures of a C-17 at Kiev airport. 

In the Kiev airport has landed a military Transporter USAF

In the Kiev airport has landed a military Transporter USAF


Obviously, if in Kiev visited Carl Levin, and Yes even on a military transport U.S. air force, he definitely came not empty-handed. For obvious reasons, none of the correspondents ukrasni did not broadcast about unloading the American side. Because ukrasni I can only Express indignation at the Russian humanitarian convoy and talk about why the Trucks from Russia were half-empty. But why for the arrival of one of the Senator took a military transport aircraft, which can accommodate up to 78 tons of cargo or a company of American soldiers with equipment ukrasni not talk...


US Troops Are Heading To Ukraine



2 September, 2014


While only 'humanitarian adviser' boots on the ground are present in Iraq (and Syria), Reuters reports that preparations are under way near Ukraine's western border for a joint military exercise this month with more than 1,000 troops from the United States and its allies. As Obama told reporters last week, "that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming," it seems a little odd 'strategically' to go ahead with the Rapid Trident exercise Sept. 16-26 as a sign of the commitment of NATO states to support non-NATO member Ukraine, entailing the first significant deployment of U.S. and other personnel to Ukraine since the crisis erupted.








As fighting between the army and Russian-backed rebels rages in eastern Ukraine, preparations are under way near its western border for a joint military exercise this month with more than 1,000 troops from the United States and its allies.
The decision to go ahead with the Rapid Trident exercise Sept. 16-26 is seen as a sign of the commitment of NATO states to support non-NATO member Ukraine while stopping well short of military intervention in the conflict.
...
"At the moment, we are still planning for (the exercise) to go ahead," U.S. Navy Captain Gregory Hicks, spokesman for the U.S. Army's European Command said on Tuesday.
...
But Rapid Trident will entail the first significant deployment of U.S. and other personnel to Ukraine since the crisis erupted.
...
"It is very important to understand that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming," Obama told reporters at the White House last week.
...

The United States European Command (EUCOM) says the exercise this month will involve about 200 U.S. personnel as well as 1,100 others from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Britain, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania and Spain.  
Focused on peacekeeping, it will include command post drills, patrolling and dealing with improvised explosive devices
* * *
Sounds like de-escalation to us... buy moar stocks.

Lugansk airport completely destroyed



Drone captures scale of destruction over abandoned East Ukraine village


Ruptly's drone captured aerial images of the remnants of Stepanovka, a village in the Donetsk region, Tuesday. The village has been an epicentre of fighting between government and anti-Kiev forces since July 2014. Destroyed houses and infrastructure could be seen from above, in a village that used to contain 1500 people. According to a camera crew near the site, 99 percent of the village's inhabitants have fled, with the exception of two people who have chosen to stay on through the crisis. The village remains a hotspot for shootouts between pro and anti-Kiev forces.




An interview with Alexey Mozgovoy, Commander of the Lugansk “Ghost” brigade. 29/08/14


2 September, 2014

Translated by Maria Razdiak
Edited by S. Naylor
Original Article here.
Traveling around Moscow, Alexey Mozgovoy has painted over the Ukrainian flag on the number plates of his car with the flag of the People’s Republic of Lugansk. The traffic police constantly pulled the strange car over and, with obvious surprise, studied the man clad in a full field camouflage, sensing danger. In the centre of the idle capital, among the glamourous boutiques and expensive restaurants he seemed alien, like a wild lynx at a competition among the groomed cats. Once recognition set in, the policemen would ask for an autograph and would wish him to make it to Kiev. Talking to Mozgovoy, one understands: he’ll make it. He is a man who “only now started living”.
Q: Alexey Borisovich, what is the current situation at the front?
A: I would say it is not easy. Difficult in the sense that we have no front line as such, like during those wars we’ve seen in history. It’s more like guerrilla warfare. Either we are at their rear, or they are at our rear. Surrounding large enemy groups happens in these days. The parts of the Ukrainian army, which were sent to unblock the “south caldron”, got surrounded together with the other military units, which managed to seep north from the caldron.
Q: Did you manage to clear any residential areas, in the last few days?
A: All those freed, which were mentioned in reports, are part of the Donetsk region. In Lugansk, we also occupied a few residential areas, but we were unable to hold them. We don’t have the people, to man the garrisons.
Q: Does the military action continue?
A: The war does not stop, not even for a single day. And the high level meeting in Minsk did not alter this fact in any way.
Q: How many people are under your command?
A: A thousand. Today I command the “Ghost” brigade. But, initially, I was creating the Lugansk Militia, from the very first day. This is why, I’m often named the leader of the People’s Militia, even though I’m only a commander of a brigade.
Q: Why is the brigade called that?
A: Because the “comrade” Ukies often claim that they have destroyed us. Even though, during the whole stretch of the military activity, our losses amount to 40 dead. Initially, “Ghost” was a platoon, which began to take shape before the seizure of buildings in Lugansk in April. Then the platoon became the basis for a battalion. This was the first time the Ukrainian media announced that they’d destroyed us, during an aviation raid on the “Yaseny” base, where our training camp was set up. They wrote about the destruction of a “major Russian terrorist group”. We had only one injured.
Q: In reality, are there any Russian in the brigade? What king of people serve there?
A: Local Militia. Labourers. We have Russians, and not only Russians. We have Bulgarians, Slovaks, the Germans should be arriving soon…
Q: Germans?
A: Yes, volunteers; anti-fascists. People are coming from Europe now. A whole military company of European and Russian volunteers.
Q: What is the “Ghost” brigade?

A: It was the first Militia unit created in Novorossia. From the very beginning, we worked closely with Igor Ivanovich Strelkov, where I aided him with personnel. The guys trained in our camp, before heading out to Slavyansk. They are still fighting, valiantly. There is a Semenovskaya company, those are our men. Do you remember the Semenovka events? They proved themselves worthy.Q: The Semenvskaja company is still fighting?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you have any information about the possible mercenaries, fighting for Kiev?
A: Of course. We’ve seen them in action. We’ve seen first-hand some black men in Lisichansk. Since when do the blacks serve in the Ukrainian army? Other units have identified mercenaries and their documents.
Q: Did you capture any mercenaries?
A: We do not have an objective to capture prisoners. Our objective is to free the territory of Novorossia from the enemy forces.
Q: So, you don’t take prisoners?
A: No. Why?
Q: Well, for exchange…
A: In order to engage into an exchange, we must make contact. But, I cannot find – on the other side – any people with whom a contact is possible.
Q: Bezler managed to exchange Olga Kulygina for the prisoners. If he didn’t, she might have been killed.
A: Any of us might be killed, including right now. Is that not so?
Q: What are the reasons of the resignation of the Head of the Lugansk Republic, Valeriy Bolotov?
A: I am more interested in the reasons of his initial appointment.
Q: How am I to understand that? Weren’t the two of you friends?
A: We are acquainted, no more. I had an initial, negative, reaction to the seizing of the administrative buildings, which took place on the 6th April. Lugansk SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) was seized, if you can remember. That day I was in Antratsit, meeting with the locals; when I returned, the SBU was already seized. But, taking into account that the building had been left unguarded, it was not a seizing, but a submission. Come, take whatever you want. And for some reason, the empty, unmanned, government security building was full of weapons. I view this a planned operation of the Security Service.
Q: To get everyone in one place? To capture them?
A: Why capture? There is a better use. And that’s how it worked out. The building filled with people who were capable of decisive actions. And all of them just sat there, all that time. Many had nervous breakdowns, sitting ducks, waiting for the threatened, looming assault. The people were in constant strain.
Q: I get that. In Donetsk, we spent every April night, waiting for an attack. Sudden calls, at 4 o’clock in the morning: “It about to start!” The journalists ran to the regional administration, but everything was completely calm. After a few sleepless nights, we stopped reacting to the “signals”.
A: Plus the civil population was pulled in from the region, standing like a “live-shield”. Nothing constructive happened during that whole period, no movement forward… After seizing the SBU and apprehending a vast amount of weapons, the whole region could have been taken under control within two weeks, at most. All branches of government, all the administrative buildings should have been occupied by the LPR (Lugansk People’s Republic) activists. Because, the Ukrainian military forces were nowhere near Lugansk at the time. There was a single column of armoured vehicles, near the Olihovaya station; it could have been dismantled with bare hands. When I announced, on the 7th of April, that it is necessary to leave 100 people on guard at the SSU, and to send 300 people to seize the Regional Administration and 300 more to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I was accused of provocation. They should have not waited in a sealed building, waiting for the wind to change. They should have acted. They could have taken control of the whole region. But, they did nothing. Those who prepared the building to be “seized”, wanted a different outcome. The outcome that happened.
Q: Where is Bolotov now?
A: I don’t have a clue.
Q When did you last see Strelkov?
A: Three or four weeks ago, before his resignation. And, I hope, he’ll return soon to his post, because there is no one else who can replace him.
Q: Who do you take orders from, now?
A: The people of Novorossia. I was always against the creation of the two separate “duchies” – The LPR and the DPR.
Q: Who should have it been done?
A: Novorossia is made from the two regions and the whole of the south-east. One government, one parliament, one leader. That’s how it should be.
Q: Does Russia aid you?
A: Of course. They send us the humanitarian aid, mostly. We don’t really need anything more from Russia. Because, certain circles are waiting for Russia to get involved into the whole affair. To stain Russia with the blood, poured by Kiev. I don’t want that. Russia is my second home.
Q: Are you worried that Russia might “surrender” Novorossia? What will happen if Putin reaches an agreement with Poroshenko?
A: Considering that I oppose the intervention of Moscow, I don’t really anticipate it. And Russia can’t “surrender” anyone. This is our internal affair, the affair of the citizens of Novorossia. If we don’t want anyone to “surrender” us, no one will be able to. None of Poroshenko’s agreements will influence the decision of Novorossian population to physically destroy him. He will answer to the victims of our land.
Q: Moscow can prevent Russian volunteers from crossing over the border.
A: Can Moscow prevent the volunteers from Europe, from America? Currently, the whole world is against us. Even if the borders are shut, we won’t be left without volunteers. If there is a will, there is a way.
Q: We heard a lot about the counterattack plans. Is this possible?
A: A counterattack is not possible for three reasons:
1. Not enough man power. In order to carry out a counterattack, reserves are necessary. We have no reserves.
2.The quantity and quality of the weaponry at our disposal is lacking.
3.The fact that there are enemy units in our rear. Currently, the combat field is like a chessboard. Until we can clean up the rear, we can’t go forward. This is what we are doing right now.
Q: And afterwards?
A: We are marching straight to Kiev.
Q: Kiev?
A: Where else?
Q: You need more support, from other Ukrainian regions. Two is not enough.
A: Who said that they aren’t supporting us? Militias are currently forming in a few other regions. One region has four thousand men. And as soon as we destroy the enemy at the rear, we’ll march forward, joined by the more and more people along the way.
Q: Your target is Kiev?
A: Our target – is to free Ukraine from oligopoly and from the sold-out officials. Maybe it is time to stop slaving for those whose personal budget is a multiple of the government budget? It’s time to share.
Q: But, that was the desire of the people who stood at Maidan. I don’t understand the conflict.
A: Neither do I. Those who fight against us, fight for the interests of the oligarchs. I would take pleasure from a conversation with the privates, the officers, the civilians, who stood at Maidan. Our interests and theirs are the same: we want to be free. Why are we fighting? From the days of the Teutonic knights, the West was warned: you shouldn’t touch the Slavs. If you come with a sword, you’ll die from a sword. That’s why they passed their Teutonic sword to the Slavs. Forced the Slavs to march against each other. Our objective is to explain to our brothers that we are same, and our aim is one.
Q: Are you planning to assault Kiev?
A: Why not? For some reason they are allowed to assault Lugansk, Donetsk. How is Kiev better than those cities?
Q: And after Kiev? Further west?
A: It depends. If the soldiers on the other side will finally realise that they are fighting themselves, the war could be over tomorrow.
Q: You stand against the oligarchs. But the local oligarchs – Ahmetov, Efimov – do they have influence on the events within Lugansk and Donetsk?
A: The representatives of the Regional Party have not always been a particularly good influence. When our struggle first started, many screamed: “Bring back Yanukovych!” Not under any circumstances. Not Yanukovych, not Efimov, not Ahmetov, not a single representative of the Regional Party, of the Communist Party, of “Svoboda”, of “Batkivshina” – should be allowed anywhere near the governments of Ukraine and Novorossia.
Q: How do you view Oleg Tsarev? It appears Moscow would like to see him in charge of Novorossia.
A: The wishes of Moscow and the wishes of Novorossia – they are slightly different things. The leader of Novorossia should be chosen by the citizens of Novorossia. As a human being I am fine with him. But to the fact that he is a representative of the party of regions, I am negative.
Q: Did the Ukrainian army utilise “Tochka-U” (SS-21 Scarab) against you?
A: Yes. Most recently a city called Rovenki, in the Lugansk region, was fired at with “Tochka-U”.
Q: Why did this idea come into being – the creation of Novorossia, separate from Ukraine?
A: I, like many people in Novorossia, cannot live with the ideology which the West has forced upon Kiev. I cannot understand same-sex marriages; juvenile justice; when the parents are not allowed to bring up their children. They have already torn us from our roots. And now, they are forbidding us to be ourselves.
Q: And where are your roots? What is your nationality?
A: My nationality is human.
Q: Who are you ancestors? Just out of curiosity…
A: My ancestors are the Don Kazaks. I was born in Ukraine, in a village called Nizhhyaya Duvanka, in the Svatovsk area, Lugansk region.
Q: Do you have a military education, background?
A: Seven years in service in the Ukrainian army. Two years compulsory, five on contract.
Q: What did you do after the army?
A: You can say that before these events, I did nothing at all. Only now, I have started living.

'Thank army on your knees': Rada MP muzzled after criticizing E.Ukraine shelling



RT,
2 September, 2014
The Ukrainian parliament speaker has told a female MP she must “get to her knees” after she criticized the “criminal” shelling of peaceful cities in the east. It was accompanied by accusations of “Russian propaganda” and switching off her microphone.

fter she’d asked for a moment of silence to honor the memory of those who have been killed in Donbass, Elena Bondarenko of the Regions Party gave a scathing review of her government, which “separates people into Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians.”
However, as she delivered her speech, alleging the new Ukrainian government’s “criminal” behavior in“sending its army to bomb peaceful cities” and “depriving children of the right to education,” cries were heard from some of the louder opponents of the MP’s position.
Then, former acting president and chairman of the Rada, Aleksandr Turchinov, asked for the microphone to be turned off, amid a stream of insults from Bondarenko’s opponents.
Aleksandr Turchinov.(RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)
Aleksandr Turchinov.(RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)

Turchinov then joined the abuse. After stating that anti-government views were “Russian propaganda,”he proceeded to sternly tell her off in a defense of the Ukrainian army, “which protects all of us – even you,” he told her, before telling Bondaernko she would do well to “get down on your knees” in front of the military.
Seconds later, cries of support and protest turned into a now-traditional Ukrainian Rada row, with curses and verbal abuse being exchanged among members.
An outburst followed from the radical, Oleg Lyashko, who suggested that such views should be followed by immediate expulsion and the label of “traitor.”
Traitors must be shot on the frontlines,” he said, finishing his tirade with “Glory to Ukraine!”
Elena Bondarenko.(RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)
Elena Bondarenko.(RIA Novosti / Evgeny Kotenko)


At the end of August, a new estimate by the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said that at least 2,593 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the start of Kiev’s military operation against anti-government forces started in mid-April.
Meanwhile, an investigation by Human Rights Watch has placed the blame for the rapid rise of the civilian death toll in and around Lugansk, where the survey took place, on Kiev’s “indiscriminate shelling” of settlements.
This assessment took place just as the UNHCR’s envoy placed the total number of displaced persons, as a result of Kiev’s assault in eastern Ukraine, at one million, with around 814,000 of them seeking shelter in Russia.











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