Brothers and sisters!
Here’s the Summary for July 16, 2014
The bad news:
1. Heavy fighting is underway in the ATO zone. Today, it is concentrated near the settlements of Amvrosiivka, Marynivka, Izvaryne and others.
The RNBO [National Security and Defense Council] announced today that none of the cities previously liberated from the terrorists, have been abandoned by Ukrainian military. “Our servicemen have not moved a meter,” said Andriy Lysenko, the RNBO information center spokesperson, on this occasion.
From ourselves, we would like to add that the very peak of today’s confrontation is located in the border area. Russia is helping the terrorists from its side as much as it is able to–with weapons, and personnel, and shelling from its own territory. Putin knows that once insurgent “ground communications” are interrupted with Russia, this will put an end to the conflict in Donbas. He will try to avoid this at all costs.
2. We, the IR group, are very alarmed by the new phase of Russia’s covert military invasion of Ukraine. Although it would seem that 300 Russian servicemen, whom we counted today, do not appear to be much.
But realistically, it is they who are once again becoming the backbone of the terrorist groups, and the professionalism of the Russian military itself is responsible for the current meat grinder in Donbas. Local “militias” are predominantly criminals, drug addicts and other marginals, and would simply be unable to operate serious equipment and weapons coming in from Russia. This is clear to the Kremlin as well, who deploys its militaries to Donbas now.
In early April, we, the IR group, reported on the entry of Russian subversive and reconnaissance groups [SRG] to Donbas (by the way, there were enough skeptics at the time who stubbornly refused to believe in the fact of the invasion). A few days later we got Sloviansk. In early May, the Russian soldiers disappeared and were replaced with mercenaries. We see nothing good in the new arrival of Russia’s little soldiers.
… By the way, Russia has yet to explain the fact of the return of the corpses of its soldiers to Russia from Ukraine leaked to the media. For example, [the soldiers] of the 45th Special Forces Airborne Regiment. I would like to hear [Dmitry] Kiselev‘s version.
3. In Luhansk, terrorists are setting up [firing] positions in residential neighborhoods. Their inherent tactic is to hide behind the shield of the civilian population.
And this tactic works. Conducting operations with minimal threat to life in such conditions is a headache for the ATO forces. The terrorists maintain the same modus operandi as bequeathed by Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin]: to act from behind women, children and the elderly. I think Putin’s ancestors are spinning in their graves at the speed of a fan from the shame of their talented offspring.
The good news:
1. During the past 24 hours, military aircraft conducted 29 missions. All day, the airstrikes hit insurgent positions, humanitarian aid got delivered, search and rescue actions were conducted.
Each combat aircraft mission is one more step to complete the cleaning of Donbas. Each transport aircraft flight is saved lives and assistance to the civilian population.
As aviators say, let the number of departures equal the number of landings.
2. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law that grants the ATO participants the status of Combatants.
This is a small part of what Ukraine owes its heroes. But this very issue has justifyingly caused some resonance in Ukrainian society for a long time. Justice has prevailed.
This law delegates to the Cabinet the authority to determine the procedures for granting the status of Combatant to those who fight in Donbas. Let’s hope that the mechanism developed by the government will not allow for this status to be granted to the military bureaucrats who flocked to ATO headquarters for a couple of days as part of their business trips.
3. The leader of the Crimean Tatar People, Mustafa Jemilev, has announced today that the Turkish Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the violation by a Turkish cruise ship of Ukraine’s ban on entering ports in occupied Crimea.
It would be a very correct and logical step by the Turkish authorities. Turkey, which has a major diaspora of Crimean Tatars, today is a natural ally of Ukraine. That’s how we perceive this state. Each Turkish step that looks like a betrayal, will be painfully perceived by Ukrainians. We believe that Ankara is still on our side.
But from our side, we also have obligations to the Crimean Tatars, as well as to our fellow citizens in Crimea. Let us not forget about this.
