Ukraine news/Current

22 Dec. DPR ombudsman: Kiev has released three war prisoners, on Dec. 18.

18-21 Dec, Russian sources on Debaltsevo battle. UAF attacked and captured several hills (Kikimora, Cross, Star). Attack was poorly prepared, and about 10 soldiers were killed in the attack and on the minefields. Opolchenie artillery opened fire on the captured hills, and more Ukrainian soldiers were killed. By 21 Dec. opolchenie took back Kikimora, and Ukrainian soldiers left two other hills. Ukrainian losses are said to be from 20 to 100 killed, with several bodies shown on photographs; official number is 5 killed. Updated LPR losses: 4 killed, 5 wounded.

A video shows volunteers evacuating wounded Ukrainian soldiers on personal autos, and providing highly critical commentary.

19 Dec. Ukraine continues break-through attempts near Debaltsevo -reports.

18 Dec. DAN news: UAF attempted to break through LPR positions in Kalinovka (map), Debaltsevo area. UAF suffered heavy casualties, estimated to be at least 10 killed and 20 wounded. LPR has 2 soldiers wounded and 2 missing in action. Ukrainian side numbers are 5 UAF killed, 6 wounded.

Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved 100% state ownership of the Privat Bank (in the past controlled by Kolomoiskii, and running public debt).

17 Dec. DAN News got an updated look and an English language version.

Ombudsman: 314 killed (303 men and 11 women), 406 wounded in DPR since the start of 2016.

DPR: 1183 ceasefire violations by Ukraine in the past day. 1 DPR soldier killed, 2 wounded.

16 Dec. DPR: 9041 ceasefire violations by Ukraine in the past week. DPR report contains a map with photos of buildings damaged as a result, and names UAF commanders allegedly responsible in Gorlovka, Donetsk, and Mariupol areas. Basurin demonstrates shot down Ukrainian armed drone, says that it could have caused a tragedy. 15 Dec. DPR: 1243 ceasefire violations by DPR in the past day.

Yanukovich testifies (video feed)in Dorgomilovskiy district court, Moscow, in a case 'on recognizing events in Ukraine, February 2014, as a state coup', brought by Ukrainian ex-MP Vladimir Oleynik, of anti-protest laws fame. Tells that he was illegally removed from power; that snipers were firing from buildings controlled by Maidan, in particular. Legal justification used to consider this case in Russia: suspected war crimes. According to Oleynik, it is illegal to use army, call for mobilization, use heavy military equipment, in an "Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO)"; that can be only used in case of a war.

"European Parliament votes for canceling visa regime for Ukraine, Georgia", according to TASS. Visa-free regime (under 3 months stay in any 6 month period, with no right to work) still needs approval by EU council. Decision was delayed earlier, to put in place a mechanism of stopping visa-free regime; but such mechanism was agreed a week ago.

Nadezhda Savchenko, now Ukrainian MP, announced (Rus.) (Ukr.) an agreement with L/DPR leaders on POW exchange, 226 prisoners held by Ukraine for 52 held by the republics. This number of prisoners is confirmed to be alive, according to her. (But it is unclear does she has the actual authority to make this happen -and also, what if there are some POWs out there who did not make it to her list).
 * Savchenko was booted from 'Batkovshina' (Yulia Timoshenko) parliamentary faction in Rada, as the faction is against any negotiations with Donbass republics leaders, call them terrorists; while Savchenko stated that such position of the state is undefined and unproven. According to Savchenko sister, Nadezhda submitted a written declaration on leaving 'Batkovshina' party back on October 26 -segodnya.ua.

14 Dec. According to Gorlovka major Ivan Prihodko, in an incident at Ukrainian-manned Mayorski checkpoint one civilian passenger of a bus was killed, another wounded, and an elderly woman died of hear attack. Prihodko stressed that this checkpoint is over 1 km from DPR positions and there is no way fire was coming from their side (as claimed by Ukraine). According to Prihodko there was some verbal altercation between passengers and guards, and one Ukrainian soldier started to fire from a Kalashnikov.

Crimean gold must go back to Ukraine, says Dutch court -BBC. Director of the Museum-Reserve "Chersonese" in Crimea Svetlana Melnikova: I am shocked. RIA, after going through storage/court expenses Ukraine will have to pay: 'Crimean museums will appeal the decision'.

12 Dec. DPR initiated a contact group meeting via videoconferencing and proposed to develop and implement mechanisms preventing shelling in the future; however Ukraine refused.

According to DPR ombudsman Darya Morozova, she is receiving information from prisoners held by Ukraine and their relatives that SBU forces them to sign paperwork declining their exchange under Minsk prisoners exchange agreements.

9 Dec. DPR: 10,603 ceasefire violations by Ukraine in the past week.

8 Dec. DPR soldier wounded on Dec 6 died in a hospital.

Two civilians were injured by Ukrainian shelling in Kuibyshev district of Donetsk. Basurin: Ukrainian soldiers set firing positions in civilian houses in Avdeevka. At least 13 houses were damaged.

7 Dec. Very high number of ceasefire violations by Ukraine, 2453, were reported for the past day. Shelling caused fire at Avdeevka coal coke plant.

6 Dec. Zakharchenko: ''Kiev has recently chosen the new policy of not implementing the Minsk agreements. Over and over, the Ukrainian politicians state that the first-stage issues of settling the situation in Donbass are the humanitarian and economic questions. Imitating care of Donbass’s residents, Ukraine just does not want to solve the political and military issues of the agreements...'' But for Minsk process to move ahead, political issues have to be solved first. Solving humanitarian and economic issues should be preceded by the lifting of the economic blockade, the amnesty for all parties to the conflict and political prisoners  (as otherwise it will be just impossible).

5 Dec. 1342 ceasefire violations by Ukraine in the past day, according to DPR; the number keeps increasing. Basurin: one DPR soldier was killed by Ukrainian sniper fire.

DPR ombudsman interviews an elderly man who received a shrapnel lung wound in Ukrainian shelling on 6 Nov 2014; fragments still not removed. His house was damaged.

Long Zakharchenko interview by Zakhar Prilepin appeared on video (interview was done sometime before the US elections) (German written translation). Zakharchenko: Minsk process 'is like a patient who is more dead than alive'; proposes that DPR and LPR included in the Normandy format, to become 2+3. Shelling by Ukraine and warfare does not stop on the ground. As for full implementation of Minsk, L/DPR positions has to be taken into account, and those would be, restoration of their control on territory of former Donetsk and Lugansk oblast, and reconstruction of Donbass. He does not believe it that this is realistic, at least under the present Ukrainian government. Tells that the population of the republics is strongly aligned with Russia mentally, and hypothetical return of control to Ukraine means, as he say, many millions of refugees going to Russia, and death for those who oppose Ukrainian takeover. For that reason they cannot relinquish control of the border to Ukraine, in particular. With neither of those scenarios-L/DPR positions fully met or Ukraine regaining control- too realistic, describes the current situation as being in a swamp, neither drowning nor letting go.

3 Dec. DPR: number of ceasefire violations by Ukraine continue to increase, 1205 violations reported in the past day.

Flash-mobs in Ukraine, Russia, and DPR-people singing popular Soviet-era songs at railway stations - Zaporozhie (a song from a popular 1950's movie, 15 Nov), Kharkov (a song from a popular 1961 movie, 20 Nov), Odessa (Smuglianka-Moldovanka song, around 27 Nov.), Dnepropetrovsk ("Katyusha" song, around 30 Nov.), Kiev (anti-war/children song "Let there always be Sun", 2 Dec); LPR- Stanitsa Luganskaya (Soviet classic, Donbas-set 1939 movie song, 1 Dec.), Donetsk (a a WW2-themed song, around 3 Dec), Lugansk ('Where does Fatherland starts', from 1961 "Shield and Sword" movie, live singing meshed with Mark Bernes classic, lyrics is by a Lugansk native, -around 3 Dec.); Mariupol ("I love you, life!, a popular 1956 Soviet song; -around 3 Dec ), Nikolaev in Southern Ukraine (Soviet-era Anna German classic "Hope", 3 Dec.); Oleksandriia, Kirovohrad region, central Ukraine -1968 war themed Mark Bernes classic 'Cranes' (video) (text)
 * in Moscow, Ukrainian folk song (27 Nov). In Lipetsk, Russia -proper another popular folksy-disco Ukrainian song from 1968, Chervona Ruta, (1 Dec).
 * Crimea joined in: in Alushta, 1982 pop hit "We wish you happiness" (video)(text). In Yevpatoria, 1936 movie song classic "Vast is my dear Country" (video) (text).
 * Melodic separatist Ukrainian song in Lviv, of unknown origin, about a tram taking them somewhere... And for comparison, from the national Ukrainian song final, 'Sky above the Dnepr', Vakarchuk-Musienko (text), of the sort, there are Rhine and Daube and great Volga, but for me the Dnieper river is everything; kind of national pride and (implicitly) nation-unifying.
 * In 2015, Vakarchuk and "Okean Elzy" (Ocean of Elza) had a big hit anti-war song "Not Your War" (discussed earlier). Recently a new documentary-based video rendition of the hit appeared.

2 Dec. DPR ombudsman: 6 DPR soldiers were killed in the past week. 6 people were wounded, 2 soldiers, and 4 civilians (3 men, 1 woman).

Ukrainian ATO Nurses-Kharkiv report that MANY wounded arrived from ATO zone, but they are no longer able to provide exact figures. They report that they are in need of many basic personal items. Previously this site reported numbers of wounded at times possibly surpassing the total official count. Their latest numbers for just that Khrakiv hospital(s) admissions from the ATO zone: 25.11.2016  - 12 people, 26.11  - 13 people, 27.11  - 3 people, 28.11 - 26 people (including 6 'trauma', 1 'wounded', and the rest 'diseases, contusions, psychiatry'). Official ATO zone report for 25.11 - one killed (number of wounded not given), 27.11-3 soldiers and one civilian wounded, 28.11- 6 wounded, On 29.11, 5 wounded.

Weekly updates from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, by Alexander Hug (video, Engl.), given at UCMC, 'Ukrainian crisis management center'. (Sounds serious, notes increased shelling numbers, continued civilian casualties, difficult humanitarian situation -- yet not offers much in terms of a solution...)

RQ-4B Global Hawk over Donbas, pro-Ukrainian blogger Zloy (Angry)-Odessit report, with maps.

1 Dec. Ukraine stopped water supply to LPR, from one of the two water supply pipes from Petrovskoe. Approximately half of Lugansk city was supplied from that source. According to Vladislav Deinego, it will cause serious interruptions of water supply but 'situation is under control'. Denying water is akin to starvation and is a war crime, (explicitly banned in 54.2 of the additional protocol, Geneva conventions). Ukraine blamed it on nonpayment of electricity bills and Red Cross stopping paying for water supplies.

Ukrainian provocative missile launches today were outside area claimed by Russia -report, maps and photos. It is believed that Russia took steps to defend the airspace.

Bags full of bank notes and a plot to bring down a prime minister: Politician makes claims of vast corruption in Ukraine - Independent. Onisheko claims that he passed on incriminating information to American special services, before fleeing to UK. He is himself accused of using a scheme to defraud the state from his natural gas business, but blames the goverment figures for orchestrating this too. His interview to Russian TV, and to  Ukrainian public TV -video; a text version (strana.ua)
 * Update, 6 Dec. First set of audio recordings made by Onishenko is published by strana.ua, with Dovgovyi, who was sent to Onishenko to try to negotiate a deal (audio and brief text with a summary of details).

29 Nov. DPR: Ukraine violated ceasefire 1882 times in the past day; 2059 the day earlier (big increase on both days). One DPR soldier was killed.

Normandy-4 FM meeting ended. 'Roadmap' was on agenda, but there were reduced expectations before the meeting and no breakthrough was reported after it.

28 Nov. DPR: 3 UAF soldiers were killed and 2 wounded when they tried to attack near Kominternovo in the south.

Yanukovich now testifies in Ukrainian court by video conference (112.ua, video in Ukrainian). (text broadcast in English here). He reads prepared remarks, blaming Right Sector, Svoboda, and Maidan Defense for violence. The judge tries to change format so that he answers questions and sends prepared remarks for them to read later. He continued his reading for a while; followed by questions, first about Euro Integration.
 * 16:09 Yanukovych: I did not order to open fire on anybody
 * Rusvesna text report, in Russian; and Ukrainian with Russian translation, Russia 24 (shaky translation though)
 * 14:56 Yanukovych: Shooting on the Maidan was a planned special operation aimed at overthrowing the government in the country (I think he said false pseudo-operation, which was rationally (?) planned and executed; up to terminology it's possibly the same).
 * Ukrainian 112.ua has the same transcription as Rusvesna above, planned special operation; repeated in English version
 * 14:51 Yanukovych: Ultra-right organisations sponsored by oligarchs were  involved in the murder of  "Maidan" activists and  law enforcement officials, with the purpose to overthrow the government.
 * 14:49: Yanukovich: I have collected three volumes of evidence about the events on the Maidan, is preparing the fourth

In view of the recent scheduled testimony by Yanukovich, former Ukrainian MP Oleg Tsarev makes several significant comments about Maidan 2014 events, saying that (1) the judge--current authorities--is to blame; the witness (Yanukovich) could have stopped the violence but have not done so; while those accused (Berkut) are not guilty, and have been following the laws (2) proofs are well documented by now, despite attempts of authorities to hide the truth (he does not explain how and by whom), and (3) that one of sniper groups had a Western connection (again, without explaining the factual basis of his claims). All that really should be said as part of investigation, not as statements to media; --but the investigation is essentially stuck.

27 Nov. Mikhail Saakashvilli organised protest meeting on Maidan, Grushevskaya Street in Kiev, and made an agitated rambling speech about high level of corruption, where a small group captured all financial streams and power. He demanded urgent anti-corruption reforms (as he has done in Georgia) and early parliamentary elections (video). Crowd was not large; but Saakashvilli told them more and more will be coming for future meetings, "we are many who fear loosing their country, against few who fear loosing their financial streams." Crowd cheered, shouted банду геть! (down with the gang), sang Ukrainian anthem (twice). His earlier interview here (Engl).
 * Journalist trying to make video recording of a group of people maintaining/updating pro-Saakashvili participants list was attacked (video). Such list could be maintained for payments to participants, but circumstances unclear.

In an answer to reporter, DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko makes a case for the 'Russian world': "We do not need two-faced and deceitful European civilization - Alexander Zakharchenko" text (Russ/Engl), video. (Critique of liberal values +WW2 victory - themed).

26 Nov. Ukrainian forces launched an attack today near Sakhanka, Vodianoe villages in the south (map), up to three UAF and volunteer 'natsbat' platoons, with the support of armored vehicles, and under the cover of fire from mortars of 82 mm caliber and 122 artillery. DPR forces repelled the attack, at least 5 attackers were killed and 8 wounded, and Ukrainian BTR was hit -Rusvesna. Ukraine: nobody killed and 5 wounded in the past day.


 * Noted: Ukrainian official ATO press releases are linked at the bottom of the page; we take a look at sources and discuss our approach on Discussion page.

25 Nov. DPR was fired on 6049 times by Ukraine in the past week. According to DPR ombudsman, in the past week 5 people were killed (4 soldiers and 1 civilian), 8 were wounded (6 soldiers and 2 civilian).

Ukraine announced plans to conduct missile launches in an area of Black Sea to the West of Crimea. According to Russia this violates Russian sea border; Russian MOD issued a formal protest.

Yanukovich was scheduled to testify via videoconferencing from Rostov as a witness in Kiev court considering a case against 5 "Berkut" officers accused of crimes on Maidan in 2014. Hearing was delayed by request of Kiev court (it is said that not all the accused were delivered to court to hear the testimony; -as that was blocked by Right Sector). Live feed here.

DPR reports 960 ceasefire violations by Ukraine. OSCE report gives 500 violations 'in Donetsk region', without specifics who fired on whom or who fired first.

24 Nov. DPR: number of ceasefire violations in the past day was 1161, a 2-fold increase. A civilian in Krutaya Balka, near Yasinovataya (map), was wounded.

According to DPR ombudsman (here and here), Kiev again tries to achieve only selective release of their prisoners, despite Minsk agreement to exchange 'all for all'. (Ukraine keeps many L/DPR prisoners; while large number of Ukrainians were released unilaterally, and more on few-at-a-time basis. Ukraine now has to release large numbers, official count is about 900 POWs, with another nearly 500 missing).

An officer of the Russian Black sea fleet was arrested by FSB in Sevastopol, accused of spying for Ukraine.

23 Nov. DPR: 5 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, 7 wounded when they attempted to break through DPR defenses in the buffer zone near a village of Vodyanoe in the south (map). 3 DPR soldiers were wounded. (Ukraine report clashes but not casualties).

22 Nov. DPR was fired on 519 times by Ukraine in the past day; 500 in the day before.

21 Nov. Russia says that two servicemen, Maksim Odintsov and Aleksander Baranov, were kidnapped by Ukraine in Crimea. It is said that they were lured to border crossing point "Dzhankoy" by a promise to give them certificates on higher education. Russian MPs demanded their release. Video of kidnapping emerged showing that they were kidnapped at the crossing point, on the Russian side. It is said that they were serving in UAF in Ukrainian-controlled Crimea, and later changed sides to serve in RAF (under contract). On the video, Baranov said that after 2014 he signed a contract and pledged allegiance to Russia.

Masterclass from Ukrainian pilot (comment heard on video: there is no such maneuver as joint landing, only joint take-off).

20 Nov. Graham Phillips interviews on video (in Russ.) a woman in Styla, DPR. House built by her parents (now deceased) was damaged by Ukrainian Grad shelling. She is saying that things are not improving, they have to live in cellars, and OSCE visits do not help. She blames Ukraine for the situation. Graham then interviews OSCE guys on whether they are actually blind (in Engl.)

18 Nov. DPR: there were 6467 ceasefire violations by Ukraine in the past week. According to DPR ombudsman, in the past week 5 people were killed (4 soldiers and 1 young civilian, born 2000), and 5 people were wounded (also 4 soldiers and 1 civilian, a man) (DAN).

IMF concludes a visit to Ukraine without a new loan promise, issues a statement indicating that Ukraine needs more time to implement reforms, including fighting corruption.

17 Nov. DPR: 894 ceasefire violations (Engl.) by Ukraine in the past day, including heavy weapons. 2 mortar shells landed in the area of hospital number 21 in Donetsk (map), facade and windows damage was reported. Villages in the south were shelled by Ukraine for over two hours.

Mikhail Saakashvili claims to have information that Poroshenko seeks to deprive him of Ukrainian citizenship. As the former Georgian president has no other citizenship anymore, he says this would be illegal under international law.

16 Nov. The conservative US-Think Tank Heritage Foundation publishes a long interview with Mikhail Saakashvili about the political situation in Ukraine and his new party "Wave". (From this and other interviews, it is clear that he understands that moneys will not be given to Ukraine as such, however he consistently makes the case for getting funded to fight off Russia. That means that if he is supported, the war in the East is quit likely to continue--unless it is demanded not to).

15 Nov. DPR officials and opolchenie report that recently (from right before the US elections and after Trump win) shelling by Ukraine increased multiple times compared to few weeks ago. DPR was shelled 876 times in the past day, all over the separation line, including heavy weapons, artillery and mortars.

Some protesters on Maidan in Kiev, photos and videos. Ukrainian sources estimate the number of protesters at 2-3 thousand people; and about 5 thousand law enforcement.
 * Maidan protesters on Nov. 15 included people who lost their savings as a result of fraudulent banking schemes. Poroshenko and Rada quickly adopted a law changing banking regulations and extending deposit guarantees to moneys given to banks as loans or deposits to non-banking third parties with bank serving as an intermediate (apparently scheme used such a loophole to avoid paying back certain deposits of their clients after bank bankruptcy).

14 Nov. Timosheno on video calls for public protests starting tomorrow against corruption, drastic fall in hryvna exchange rate, high utility costs. Timoshenko on video: this is not a hand of the Kremlin.

Ukraine makes preparations for the 3rd Maidan? Rusvesna, the head of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, representatives of the Security Service and intelligence, and MP Sergey Pashinsky. Interfax: Avakov demanded  that police and national guard make sure that any protests are peaceful, and security is maintained. According to Ukrainian media reports (korrespondent.net), Georgian-born police chief of Ukrainian national police Hatiya Dekanoydze resigned. Earlier it was reported (Rusvesna) that some nationalistic groups called to gather on Maidan on 21 Nov. Apart from Daknoydze announcement, Maidan news and graphics tend to be hosted by pro-Russian sources.

12 Nov. Rusvesna (translation): according to DPR ministry of security, "six neo-Nazis from the 'Misanthropic Division' were arrested". Leaders of that group earlier claimed responsibility in Motorola assassination case (with some skepticism expressed towards their claim at the time). It is said that those arrested "admitted to their terrorist and extremist crimes" and gave evidence on the circumstances; it is said that they maintained connections with SBU. Misanthropic division denied that those arrested are their members (after earlier denying responsibility for the assassination). This follows Zakharchenko announcing names of some alleged organizers of Motorola assassination (10 Nov.); and an arrest of "three Ukrainian saboteurs" in Sevastopol (also 10 Nov.) Details provided on all those developments appear quite sketchy.
 * Two detained in Crimea Ukrainian 'diversants' (saboteurs) video testimonies emerged, where they both say that they work for Ukrainian intelligence (GUR, MOD Ukraine) in the rank of colonel. (In Ukrainian media it is noted that reading glasses seen on the first video change position after a jump cut on the video.)

11 Nov. Weekly update. According to DPR, there were 5118 ceasefire violations by Ukraine; including 3244 using heavy weapons. According to DPR ombudsman, 2 soldiers were killed, and 3 civilians wounded; updated number of people detained by Ukraine is 901.

8 Nov. DPR was shelled 1072 times in the past day. In the evening, Ukraine started shelling residential areas of Petrovskii district of Donetsk and Zaitsevo near Gorlovka.

7 Nov. 3 houses were damaged by Ukrainian shelling on Gorlovka, one house was set on fire

Saakashvili resigns as governor of Odessa, accusing Poroshenko of "personally supporting two clans" against attempts to fight corruption. On his resignation video, Saakashvili flanked by Yuia Marushevskaya and young people winning competition to work in Odessa customs, tells that port repairs scheduled for the beginning of the year were not finished, money stolen, and those young people still not at work. Poroshenko promised support in April, but have not moved a finger to support the project. Odessa customs was part of pilot anti-corruption project supported and funded by USAID and European Union. (Odessa is difficult to govern, for outsiders especially ...).
 * Another Georgian beauty, Khatia Dekanoidze Ukrainian national police chief, had a TV press conference on results of her work shorty after, with no groundbreaking announcements.

5 Nov. Civilian is wounded in Petrovskii district of Donetsk`.

4 Nov. DPR was shelled 3810 times in the past week by Ukraine, 53 houses were damaged.

According to DPR ombudsman, in the past week 5 people were killed (4 soldiers and 1 civilian), and 9 wounded (6 civilians and 3 soldiers). 900 people are held by Ukraine (despite Minsk agreements to exchange all for all); another 488 people are missing. Detentions of Kiev regime opponent Egor Logvinov from Kharkov, and of Russian volunteer Andrey Sokolov (released by court, but than taken to unknown destination) are discussed in the report.

1 Nov. DPR was shelled 755 times in the past day, a woman was wounded, 3 houses damaged. According to LPR MoD representative Andrey Marochko, Ukraine attempts to occupy buffer zone and conducts provocative shelling of 'people's militia'.

Videos
DPR Sakhanka: life goes on under shelling, 11 Oct. 2016

'Suburbia of life', about the effect of the war on life in small villages and towns. Shelling, destruction, economic hardship. Slow running, in Russian. Sept. 29, 2016.

More videos on talk page

OSCE

 * SMM Ukraine

Official Ukrainian sources

 * ATO press releases and maps
 * Official website of Ukrainian president
 * National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
 * Verhovna Rada

Ukrainian media

 * TSN
 * 112.ua
 * inter.ua
 * kyivpost.com
 * dumskaya.net (Odessa, pro goverment)