Southeastern Ukraine on the "verge of a great new war"
2015-06-15
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Specific instances of ceasefire violations by both rebel and Ukrainian forces in Donetsk have doubled since Friday, leading the chief negotiator for Donetsk, Denis Pusilin to remark that the Donbas region is on the "verge of a great new war", according to Russian language news reports.
Pusilin said that the new phase of the war could begin "in a matter of hours", according to a news report which appeared in rustoday.info.
However, the latest reports in rebel media are that as of Sunday night, artillery shelling stopped at least in Donetsk city.
The artillery attacks have been concentrated in three areas in western Donetsk: Donetsk city, Gorlovka, which is north of Donetsk city, and in Shirokino, which is on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
Since Friday night almost 300 instances of shootings took place including artillery, crew served weapons and small arms fire in Donetsk, raising fears on the rebels' side that the Ukrainians may be about to force the issue.
Since the conclusion of the rebel Debaltsevo defensive operation in late February, rebel media have been claiming that Ukraine was about to launch a major offensive, although those claims were not accompanied with the kind of artillery fire and gunfire they are now receiving -- or delivering.
Also, since the end of February weather has played some role as to when an offensive could begin. Now, with midsummer about to begin, fears of a renewed offensive by the Ukrainians are becoming acute.
Most revealing since the conclusion of the rebel seizure of Marinka almost two weeks ago, is the fact that Ukrainian military forces have brought back their heavy artillery to be used against rebel positions, and have used them on counterattacks on rebel forces in Marinka. Ukrainian media say, for the first time since last February, that rebels have been using heavy artillery, which rebel media have denied.
Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the Donetsk ministry of defense said Sunday that Ukrainians fired on rebel positions 185 times using tank gunfire, small arms fire, and 82mm and 120mm mortar fire. The amount of shooting taking place was double the previous day and triple the average daily ceasefire violations.
Ukrainian media said that rebels fired on Ukrainian positions a total of 109 times.
Donetsk
Artillery strikes hit targets on both sides of the line in western sectors of Donetsk city, according to Ukrainian and rebel Russian language reports.
Rebel media reported two days ago that Ukrainian artillery were hitting in Spartak and on the airport grounds in conjunction with Ukrainian plans to retake the airport. It appears now that those artillery attacks continue. Neither side is reporting casualties, except official rebel media are reporting civilian dead and wounded.
Gunfights have been taking place In nearby Ukrainian held Avdievka and in adjacent Peski, which is split between the combatants.
According to a news report which appeared in korrespondent.net, rebel 125mm tank guns, 122mm artillery and 120mm mortars fired on targets on Opytnoye, which is Ukrainian held and adjacent to Avdievka, specifically on apartment buildings in the town.
According to rebel media, Ukrainian artillery have been hitting targets in Kievskiy, Kuibyshevskiy, and Petrovsky districts in western Donetsk city.
Colonel Basurin went to some lengths to describe how Ukrainian artillery directed onto the Kievskiy district has been fired by artillery belonging to the Ukrainian 93rd Independent Mechanized Rifle Brigade under the command of Colonel Oleg Mikats.
Colonel Mikats was the Ukrainian officer captured back in February in the immediate Ukrainian counterattack which sought to retake the airport. He was shown in a youtube.com video in the company of the rebel commander of Somaliya Battalion, Mikail Tolstoy, being manhandled and apparently beaten by Tolstoy and his troops, and having a handgun drawn on him by Tolstoy.
Mikats was released from imprisonment in May.
Marinka
In Marinka, both sides claim to have driven back infantry attacks in the town, which is said to be split between rebel and Ukrainian forces.
A report in tsensor.net said that rebel forces used 120mm mortar and 122mm artillery fire on Ukrainian positions, and had driven back a two rifle company (about 250 effectives) sized attack on their positions Saturday night.
According to data supplied by Igor Strelkov's VKontakte page, rebel media said, referring to the same time frame, that a Ukrainian attack was also driven back by rebel forces holding their half of the town.
The rebel rifle unit holding the town has been identified as the "Pyatnashka" Brigade, a unit of mixed nationalities. A later report said that a Ukrainian rifle unit attempted to attack the brigade headquarters under the fire of 82mm mortars and small arms, but rebel counterfire stopped the Ukrainians from penetrating further into rebel held positions.
In all the battle lasted two hours, ultimately with little shift in the lines.
Ukrainian military journalist Dmitri Tymchuk said that rebel forces have been using tanks in pairs to fire on Ukrainian positions in Marinka. He also said that rebel 122mm and 152mm artillery being fired from the Petrovskiy district of Donetsk have been striking in Marinka.
Shirokino
Artillery fire into rebel held Shirokino continued, as it has since last February, according to rebel and Ukrainian media. A report in korrespondent.net said that rebel forces used 122mm artillery, heavy mortar, crew served weapons and small arms fire on Ukrainian positions in the town.
A separate report in korrespondent.net said that an unidentified Russian soldier was captured in the village and is being held by members of the Right Sector political movement. Right Sector staffs many volunteer units which operate in conjunction with Ukrainian Army operations.
According to the report, the soldier had military ID and a Donetsk passport.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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