Ukrainian MoD says weapons withdrawal claim "cynical fraud" subject logo: DONBASWAR
2015-07-22
Posted by: badanov

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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

As Donetsk ministry of defense officials continue to claim that they have withdrawn more than 300 armor vehicles from the front line, exchanges of artillery fire between the rebels and Ukrainian forces continue, according to Russian language news accounts.

According to data supplied on the website of the Donetsk ministry of defense, a total of 84 tanks and 222 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) have been moved at least three kilometers from the front line as a unilateral gesture in advance of peace talks.

A total of 36 tanks and 61 IFVs have been moved from areas in and around the western suburbs of Donetsk city including Kamenka, and from Gorlovka, said the report. Areas north of Donetsk and around Debaltsevo still have armor vehicles on the front line.

Since at least the first ceasefire, Minsk I, and the second, known as Minsk II, both sides on this year-old conflict have been required to remove all heavy weapons with bores over 100mm from the front line. Both sides claim they have done so, and both sides claim the other side has failed to do so. Rebels have long claimed that Ukrainian forces keep artillery parks and tanks closer than the required distance, especially mobile artillery platforms, ready to move forward in the event of enemy action.

For example, in the rebel mini offensive which took Markinka, near western Donetsk city last May, a large number of Ukrainian self propelled guns and tanks quickly appeared to counter tanks they say the rebels used to take the town. Since that time, rebel officials have claimed the Ukrainians have been massing more self propelled artillery pieces near the front line

The new withdrawal program by the rebels now includes heavy weapons regardless of caliber, including such vehicles as the BMP-1 (IFV) which sports a 73mm cannon. The BMP-1's younger brother, the BMP-2 has a 30mm autocannon and is capable of firing a relatively advanced antitank guided missile (ATGM). The BMP-2 has been used as direct fire artillery, although few reports from either side have emerged if either side has used ATGMs as artillery. Heavy weapons also included, but not specifically mentioned, include the 82mm mortar and the 73mm SPG-9 recoiless rifle, which both sides have adapted with indirect fire capable carriages.

Nearly every tank both sides use has a 125mm tank gun, often used as direct fire artillery. On T-72Ms, which are in widespread use, and on some later versions of the T-64, the 125mm tank guns can fire ATGMs.

So far, the Ukrainian ministry of defense has not answered the rebels' actions with a withdrawal program of its own, instead preferring to criticize what the rebels are doing as a "cynical fraud," said Ukrainian ministry of defense official Colonel Andrei Lysenko, according to a news account posted on hst-ukraine.com.

According to reports on korrespondent.net, officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could not confirm the rebels' claim of such a massive withdrawal of military equipment. Rebel reports say, however, that some OSCE observers have watched the rebels' actions in the last three days.

Fighting in Donetsk

Rebel media said that Ukrainian forces have fired on rebel forces a total of 53 times in the last 24 hour period.

According to data supplied by the Donetsk ministry of defense, Ukrainian forces have fired on rebel forces in western Donetsk suburbs, including at Spartak and in the Petrovsky district and the airport grounds near Donetsk. Ukrainian artillery and small arms fire were recorded in Zaistevo, Gorlovka and Logvinovka.

The Ukrainian ministry of defense said that rebels have fired on their forces more than 40 times, including artillery strikes using 120mm mortars on residential housing and at the coke plant in Avdievka, 120mm mortar, 122mm artillery, 152mm artillery and tank gun fire at Zaitsevo and Gorlovka.

Col. Lysenko said Tuesday that rebels fired on civilian vehicles near Marinka, wounding three civilians traveling nearby aboard a private vehicle. Lysenko said also that one Ukrainian soldier was killed and one was wounded in western Donetsk.

General Major Andrein Taran, a Ukrainian commander who is part of the Joint Center for the Monitoring of the Ceasefire, said Tuesday that rebel artillery fire fell on the Uglegorsk thermal power plant, causing damage. Weapons used in that attack included 122mm and 152mm artillery.

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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