End of a Cease-Fire
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| Tass / EPA / ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO |
Less than a week ago I published a post, my first post, regarding the situation in the ground on Ukraine. Troop morale is at an all time low and Russia is posturing for another offensive. And that's exactly what we've got.
Facts are not always clear in the fog war, but the Kiev Post is reporting that fighting along the front lines have broken out earlier today along the western border of Donetsk (Scroll Down for maps). Ukraine Today is reporting the casualties at 38 injured and 3 dead from the Ukrainian side, while the Kiev Post maintains at least 19 separatist fighters have been killed so far.
RT, the mouthpiece of the Kremlin, is significantly downplaying a resurgence in the fighting, preferring to focus on the recent airstrikes in Gaza by Israel following to rockets being lobbed over the border, another Wikileaks release, more developments on MH-17 and last week's anthrax fuck-up. What they do mention about it here is that there are at least 14 separatists killed and 86 injured, some critically, with at least 6 civilian deaths.
Ukrainian media has portrayed it as fighting simply resuming, with no clarity to who started fighting first. Russian media is reporting that the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) was provoked by shelling from Ukrainian artillery throughout the contact line. The fact that fighting has widely broken out along the line is not contested, but I haven't seen anything solid to back up the Russian claims.
Donetsk Burns
As fighting continues both RT and Tass are focusing on the state of emergency unfolding within the Donetsk Oblast. The resumption of shelling has left the city of Donetsk largely devoid of power- and with it, a flurry of problems.
The wounded of the fighters are being taken to the main hospital in Donetsk, while power to the facility has been shut off. After 2 hours without power and a growing number of wounded being rushed in, the decision was made to evacuate the hospital, in order to avoid a repeat of the incident earlier this year in which indiscriminate shelling managed to hit a hospital, killing and injuring several.
The hospital wasn't the only place affected by the loss of power. Three mines lost power as a result of the artillery fire as well, trapping nearly a thousand people underground as carnage on the surfaces unfolds.
The hospital wasn't the only place affected by the loss of power. Three mines lost power as a result of the artillery fire as well, trapping nearly a thousand people underground as carnage on the surfaces unfolds.
Maryinka Captured
The timeline posted on gazeta.ru lists Maryinka as captured by the Vostok brigade of the DNR as of 1345 local time.
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Although the situation on the ground has now begun to stabilize, Maryinka remains in flames. Ukrainian forces have regrouped to defend Krasnogorovka and Kurakhovo, where their artillery is currently stationed, to fend off the coming offensive.
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What's in Mariupol Worth Fighting For?
Mariupol is situated on the coast of the sea of Azov, and is the country's second-largest sea port. It's also part of the land bridge Russia wants to make a push for to give them easier access to Crimea. Mariupol is also famous for its metallurgic industry, hosting the Illich Steel and Iron Works. There's also a power plant, which would be of obvious strategic value to possess in any conflict.
Mariupol will come under siege later this summer. There will be a lot of shelling, heavy casualties on both sides, and a lot of dead civilians. The separatists/Russian military is going to try and surround the city. To prepare, the Ukrainians have already dug trenches, laid tank barriers, built fortifications and laid mines in the sea.
The fighting in the city to the east of Mariupol that is holding the front line against the separatists has already seen fighting so fierce that separatists are challenging the Ukrainian military to hand-to-hand combat from right outside their own trenches. And if that's going on during the cease-fire, well...
...the fight over control of the Donetsk Airport has already shown how destructive this war can be.
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