Rebel forces withdraw from Shirokino subject logo: DONBASWAR
2015-07-03
Posted by: badanov

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Rebel forces holding the forward town of Shirokino have withdrawn their troops, "unilaterally demilitarizing" the town after nearly six months of fighting, according to Russian language news accounts.

A Ukrainian commander, identified as General Major Andrei Taran, told the 0629.com.ua news outlet Thursday that rebel troops have left the town, and have taken up positions in two towns immediately east of Shirokino, including Sahanka and Bezimyanoye.

For a week, discussions coming out of the working groups of the Minsk II agreement trying to hammer out a permanent settlement in this year old war included a proposal to demilitarize the resort town -- nearly completely destroyed by artillery fire and direct fire combat since at least last February -- by removing combatants.

Rebel forces and Ukrainian volunteer units including the Ukrainian "Azov" Regiment have been fighting over the town, with the Ukrainian side clinging to western sectors of the town. Both sides have accused the other of hitting targets using heavy artillery including tank gun fire, all of which is supposed to be withdrawn to a sufficient distance to stop artillery fire.

According to another news account in korrespondent.net, rebel forces left with town starting around midnight, July 2nd and ending at first light.

An observation post is to be set up and maintained by a Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Shirokino was the most forward outpost of the rebel forces in the Mariupol region, and had been, according to repeated rebel news announcement, subjected to Ukrainian artillery fire since last February. It was only a few weeks ago that elements of the "Azov" Regiment took control of the western sectors of the town.

Rebel forces have withdrawn to Sahanka, itself under heavy Ukrainian artillery fire for a week, now presumably because of rebel plans to establish a base there.

According to the spokesman for the Donetsk ministry of defense, Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces have been using drones to adjust artillery fire into Sahanka. According to an official rebel report, Ukrainians have been using 120mm mortar fire at Sahanka and other locations in the Mariupol defense zone occupied by rebel forces.

Basurin also said that many residents have left Sahanka because of the destruction rendered by Ukrainian artillery fire, to include eight residences. A total of 300 are said to have left the town

According to Ukrainian media, rebel artillery have been firing into Mariupol starting at around 2030 hrs July 2nd using 152mm and 122mm tube artillery. According to data supplied by the Ukrainian ministry of defense, rebel artillery used also included 120mm mortars fire. Rebel have been using antitank guided missiles (ATGMs), with one hitting in the Leninskiy district of Mariupol. The report does not specify any damage or casualties by rebel fire, only that the artillery did not hit Ukrainian troops in Mariupol.

Ukrainian media have accused rebels of planning to use Shirokino as a springboard for an offensive aimed at capturing the port city of Mariupol. Two days ago US paid media, using data supplied by the Ukrainian volunteer "Dnepr-1" Battalion and the Ukrainian ministry of defense have said that a Russian forward operating base (FOB), has been set up for what appears to be a reinforced Russian rifle company. The plan, accuses Ukrainian media, is to use the base located just 12 kilometers from Volnovakha as a base for offensive operations aimed at enveloping Mariupol with a single pincer from Volnovakha to some point a few kilometers to the west of Mariupol.

Once that encirclement operation is successfully in hand, rebel forces in Shirokino were to push their way into the city.

Rebels abandoning a forward area such as Shirokino in the face of accusations that it would be used to attack Mariupol, would seem to fly in the face of such accusations, but for the rebels' penchant for displays, and their considerable ability to play up such moves.

According to data supplied by the Ukrainian ministry of defense, General Taran said: "The cynicism of the situation lies in the fact that before the next negotiations in Minsk militants defiantly decided to return to Ukrainians destroyed and deserted Shirokino positioning the solution as the observance of the Minsk Agreement."

The area around Mariupol, just before Minsk I in September had rebel forces in isolated groups holding positions to the northwest of the city. Mariupol had been used by the Ukrainian military as a marshaling point for their now failed operation in August, 2014 to envelope Donetsk city from the south. That operation led to the battles around Ilovaisk, arguably, one of the two great military disasters for the Ukrainian military.

How much the rebels holding those positions would have helped in subsequent operations is unknown.

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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