Rebels say Ukrainian Army fired artillery in Mariupol
2015-01-26
Posted by: badanov
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Ukrainian artillery units accidentally fired the artillery missions that struck a residential sector of the sea of Azov port city of Mariupol three days ago, according to Russian language videos and news sources.
The artillery strike killed 30 unidentified individuals and has raised an international outcry of condemnation against the Russian backed rebel forces operating in the region.
But, according to videos shot at the time the artillery strike appears to have come from as many as three different directions in relation to the city, one from the west and two from the northwest. Rebel artillery and combat units are positioned to the east and out of the line of fire.
The area that was hit, was on the extreme eastern outskirts of the city where a number of high rise apartments are located. Videos purportedly shot at the time of the attack show impacts on buildings and on the ground which were hit at an angle that could only have come from the west and northwest.
Immediately following the attack, Russian observers in the region had remarked that the Ukrainian artillery had fired shorts, or missions that fell short of their intended target, or impact zone.
According to a new report which appeared on rustoday.info, Donetsk deputy defense minister Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin remarked that the artillery attack was intended to cover movement of a maneuver unit identified by Basurin as the 18th Battalion of the 28th Mechanized Rifle Brigade. According to the report, the unit was moving towards the eastern outskirts of the city when the artillery struck.
However, in video that this writer saw, nothing could be seen that was a military unit or equipment in the impact zone at the time. The unit's elements could have been approaching the area out of the view of the cameras at the time, but no units were seen nearby when the artillery struck.
According to the news report, once the condemnation was issued by the Ukrainian government, Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakharchenko ordered suppression artillery fire against Ukrainian units positioned on the eastern side of the city. No videos have emerged detailing that particular artillery operation.
Rebels attempt encircling Ukrainian forces at Debaltsevo
It appears now that much of the artillery firing and operations by both sides at the Donetsk city of Gorlovka was actually a subsidiary operation intended to keep Ukrainian forces tied down west of Gorlovka and Debaltsevo.
At the moment, a large Ukrainian formation -- rebels say as many as 8,500 effectives -- are in a salient centering around the Donetsk city of Debaltsevo. The position was taken in a blitzkrieg style operation last August just before the Minsk Ceasefire was to take effect. The resulting salient -- when the operation was presumably stopped -- was part of the larger operation to encircle Donetsk city to the west and to separate Donetsk oblast (province/state) -- now a republic -- from its sister republic of Lugansk.
That encirclement operation was stopped when the other pincher -- which included a large Ukrainian mobile force, with as many as 4,000 effectives -- was stooped, surrounded and eventually liquidated by rebel forces. Charges at the time from western and Ukrainian government were that the rebel forces had help from Russian Army formations near Krasnii Luch, the presumed linkup location for the southern pincher of the Ukrainian operation, and from Russian artillery parked just on the other side of the border with Ukraine.
At the moment, however, rebel operations are now focused on the "mouth" of the salient at Svetlodarsk on the western side of the salient, and at Krasnii Pagar on the east.
According to the latest rebel media, the settlements of Travnevoye and Dolomitnoye have fallen to the rebels along with Krasny Pakhar, all locations of which had received Ukrainian reinforcements only hours before, and all locations near the mouth of the Debaltsevo salient.
Rebel reports are that firefights have erupted in several locations around the salient including at Lisichansk, Debaltsevo-Chernukhino, Gorsk-Stakhanov, Khartsizk and Popasnaya-Pervomaisk.
Fighting continues at Donetsk city
Despite the recent successes in gaining full control of the Donetsk airport, rebel units in the region have struggled against two other critical towns held by Ukrainian forces, Peski and Avdievka.
Last Friday, a large rebel motorized column got caught in the impact zone of a 122mm rocket artillery strike near Avdievka, killing as many as 130 effectives. Military analyst Boris Rozhin claims the death toll in the attack was closer to 40.
Where 40 or 130 dead, efforts to take Avdievka and Peski have faltered in recent days. Just days after the Ukrainian finally admitted they lost the airport, rebels claims they had taken Peski, but later, as it turned out, the rebels have taken only a part of the settlement.
According to Rozhin, the fighting for Peski has "stabilized" with neither side able to gain much of an advantage, especially after the massive artillery attack last week.
Avdievka is a much larger target than Peski and so far has proven to be a much harder problem than Peski. Neither rebel nor Ukrainian media have taken pains to explain why, except that the location is much larger and easier to defend.
Continuing fighting in Northern Lugansk
Combat operations between rebel units and their Ukrainian counterparts are concentrated along T1303 highway and along the Norther Donetsk River, according to Russian and English language news accounts.
Ukrainian military journalist Dmitri Tymchuk said that rebel forces continue their operations against Ukrainian police checkpoints along T1303. Also, Tymchuk reports that Ukrainian observers reported "25 tanks and 40 other armored vehicles" near the river zone. A rebel artillery unit was also reported to be in the area consisting of 35 artillery units, including 12 each 122mm BM-21 rocket artillery launchers.
Tymchuk said that Ukrainian artillery has been used with some success against rebel units which are trying to penetrate north of T1303.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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