Donetsk premier says shelling undermines negotiations
2014-10-22
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
The prime minister of Donetsk said Monday that constant shelling during the truce has undermined negotiations with the Ukrainian government, according to a news account posted on the online edition of RIA Novositi.
The announcement came after a Ukrainian artillery unit hit an area where the Donetsk deputy prime minister, Andrei Purgin was holding a meeting. According to a news report the shell was a Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile which landed on a nearby soccer field.
Ukrainian news sources including the ATO Press Center's Facebook account said that the ballistic missile attack was faked, and that the photos used to describe the scene were previously used in June.
Donetsk city and its surrounding suburbs and districts have been subjected to Ukrainian artillery since the very start of the truce in September 5th. Another protocol adopted on September 19th said that both sides were to withdraw all heavy weapons from a demarcation line, one part of which runs through the western part of Donetsk city. The protocol called for all heavy weapons 100mm or larger be withdrawn by both sides to a distance of 15 kilometers.
According to numerous reports, both sides continue to fire on one another's positions using artillery rockets as heavy as 240mm.
Since the start of the truce, the primary issue between the two combatants has been the Donetsk airport, which is located on the northern edge of Donetsk city. That position was occupied by Ukrainian military forces until 10 days ago, when militia forces attempted to storm the area.
Both sides suffered heavy losses in the fighting which continued today as militia forces claimed they knocked out four Ukrainian tanks, said to be 1960s era T-64 main battle tanks (MBT). It has been known since last week that the Ukrainians have been trying to reinforce their positions at the airport with armor and have been rotating forces between that location and the town of Peski, southwest of Donetsk and Avdeyevka to the northeast. The Ukrainian positions are now greatly reduced to just the control tower and one other building because of repeated attempts by militia forces to eject them from the airport.
Ukrainian and pro Ukrainian media have made fun of a quote reported last week that militia fighters likened by Ukrainian troops holding the airport as "cyborgs", a clear reference to Hollywood and European science fiction films, because of the great difficulty in assaulting -- and taking -- a fixed, reinforced position. The Ukrainians are taking advantage of a system of underground maintenance and drainage tunnels as well as cold war era nuclear bomb-proof shelters.
Donetsk and the Milan meeting
The meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko concluded Friday with no clear agreement on the fighting in southeastern Ukraina, but with a tentative agreement of natural gas shipments to Ukrainia, and Ukrainian debt used to pay for prior shipments.
According to a Reuters news account published online three days ago, Putin met with Poroshenko one on one towards the end of Friday, with the resulting understanding that Russian natural gas shipments would resume in time for winter. European press lamented that an agreement could not be forged between Russia and Ukrainia on the war in Donetsk and Lugansk.
Winter in the Donbas region is expected to come before November 15th.
Last week, Poroshenko signed a new law which granted both rebel oblasts "special status", which would enable them to elect representatives normally appointed by a governor appointed by Poroshenko. Since the new law was signed just hours before the Milan meeting, Andrei Purgin called it a bluff, since no area in Ukraina has been mentioned in the law, although such status was included as a Ukrainian requirement in the original Minsk ceasefire agreement. Another problem with the new law is that it is limited to three years.
For his part Zakharshenko announced that elections intended to convene a Donetsk legislature and a chief executive would take place on December 2nd as planned. Zakharshenko is himself running for a seat in the putative parliament, presumably in hopes of taking the presidency.
Ukraina is holding parliamentary elections next Sunday, October 26th, after Poroshenko dissolved the Verkhovna Rada earlier last month.
Zakharshenko has been under enormous stress from several top militia commanders who complain that Zakharshenko signed Donetsk's and Lugansk's rights away at the Minsk ceasefire negotiations. One of the central beefs is the location of the demarcation line which erased all gains made by militia forces since late August, which also put Donetsk city in range of Ukrainian artillery. Zakharsheko has been silent on the issue, ex officio, preferring instead to electioneer for November 2nd.
A Twitter account, said to be part of the Donetsk government quoted Zakharsheno as saying the truce was terminated. Russian military blogger Colonel Cassad reported on the tweet saying that Ukrainian military forces continue to build up forces to the immediate west of Donetsk and Lugansk and that an offensive, previously said to begin this week, may begin after the end of the fall rains and the start of winter, about mid November.
That Twitter account has been said to be faked.
Talks between Russian and Ukraina are expected to resume October 21st in Brussels, Belgium, and are expected to include the war in southeastern Ukraina.
Fighting continues in Donetsk city
Shelling by both sides continued in Donetsk city. According to the pro Russian Voice of Sevatopol, Ukrainian artillery has been firing in support of its forces at the Donetsk airport all day Sunday, and militia artillerymen have been firing artillery against Ukrainian positions at the airport as well as in Peski and Avdeyevka. Ukrainian artillery have been firing counterbattery artillery missions as well.
Militia forces have reported Ukrainian artillery strikes in Donetsk in Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Kievsky and Petrovsky districts. A Ukrainian tactical missile struck a chemical plant, causing a huge explosion and fire. Ukrainian press say that the building hit was an ammunition plant.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
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