Rogue Ukrainian volunteer unit disbands
2015-06-23
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Ukrainian interior ministry troops searched the base of the rogue Ukrainian volunteer military unit without incident late Saturday, despite previous threats by volunteers that the base was mined, according to Russian language news reports.
A news story appearing on the website of korrespondent.net said that members of the "Tornado" Battalion, a few leaders and some subordinates of which have been charged with serious crimes, let interior ministry investigators into their base after they had assured the government their location was not mined in anticipation of a military assault. The search took three hours, but no news emerged from any source as to what, if anything, the interior troops found.
Sunday morning following the search, most members of the rogue battalion were removed from the base, according to a separate story in korrespondent.net, to be later attached to the interior ministry as troops. Yet another korrespondent.net story quotes the deputy commander of the "Tornado" Battalion, Nikolai Tsukur as saying the remaining members of his unit were physically moved elsewhere, presumably to begin integration with the interior ministry.
On Sunday, interior ministry police detained an unidentified 44 year old "Tornado" Battalion junior sergeant in the village of Zaaydarovka Novopskovskovo in Lugansk after it was discovered he had allegedly beat his unidentified girlfriend, sending her to the hospital. On the premises of the residence where the NCO and his girlfriend resided, police found one hand grenade, 50 marijuana plants and parts of poppy plants.
Top Ukrainian defense official defects
A top Ukrainian military official defected to the rebel side Monday, saying that several top Ukrainian commanders have spoken about defecting to the Russian backed rebels, according to data supplied by the Donetsk ministry of defense.
General Major Aleksandr Kolomiets said at a press conference on Donetsk city that he had moved his family out of Kiev because of anticipated threats against them following his departure.
General Kolomiets at one time was an assistant Ukrainian defense minister, was chief analyst of the armed forces, and had served as regional commissar for the Ukrainian ministry of defense in Donetsk before the civil war.
Pro Ukrainian news sites played off the defection saying that General Kolomiets had little for the rebels in terms of usable intelligence, and that he was sacked from the ministry of defense out of concerns for his numerous visits to Moscow.
Fighting in Donetsk
According to data supplied by the Donetsk ministry of defense, Ukrainian troops fired on rebel positions 74 times over the last 24 hours, and on the previous day, Ukrainian troops fired on rebel positions a total of 38 times.
Despite the uptick in attacks, some localities managed to pass Sunday to Monday night without attack, specifically in Gorlovka, which has been under Ukrainian artillery fire for so long that the western sectors of the city almost are completely abandoned.
According to the latest data, Ukrainian artillery struck rebel targets in western Donetsk city and suburbs, including at Petrovskiy, Oktyabrskiy and Kuibyshevskiy districts of Donetsk, at the airport and at Spartak.
Other locations struck by Ukrainian artillery fire include Shirokino and again in Gorlovka. Weapons used include 122mm artillery and 82mm mortars.
Rebels say one civilian was killed in a Ukrainian artillery attack at Spartak.
The Ukrainian ministry of defense, according to a news report in tsnsor.net, said that rebels fired on Ukrainian positions 40 times on both Lugansk and Donetsk, including at locations in Donetsk such as Donetsk city, Peski and Opytnoye, and at Krymskoye and Lozovoye in Lugansk, using 120mm and 82mm mortars as well as RPG and small arms fire.
The Ukrainian ministry of defense now says that some rebel attacks are taking place round the clock in sectors throughout the region.
According to a separate tsensor.net news story, rebels hit targets in Avdievka using 122mm artillery and 125mm tank gun fire, and attempted an infantry probe, which Ukrainian troops say they drove back. The attack destroyed several residences and wounded one local civilian.
In Marinka, according to tsensor.net, rebel troops used mortars and snipers on Ukrainian positions.
Using data supplied by the Ukrainian volunteer "Azov" Regiment, rebel artillery struck Ukrainian positions in extreme western Shirokino using 120mm mortar and 122mm artillery fire Sunday night. The barrage last for nearly two hours.
According to the news report, one Ukrainian stronghold was destroyed and four Ukrainians were wounded. Tsensor.net also reported that rebels were flying drones out of Shirokino and Berdnyansk.
According to Ukrainian news sources, rebel artillery also struck the nearby town of Starognatovka using 152mm artillery Monday.
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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