By Patrioty.org.ua
12.01.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Soldiers passed on the request through volunteers.
Ukrainian soldiers requested that Ukrainians knit them special gloves for carrying out warfare. This was on the Facebook page of volunteer Lyudmila Pilipishina (nicknamed Ludmila Ukrainka), reports Patriots of Ukraine.
“The request from the soldiers came through the volunteers !!! Who can knit, or maximum repost !!! These gloves are knitted by us women, they are essential to our guys on the front line, please join our common cause, help our defenders so that their hands are not frozen from the cold! They protect us with you! Glory to Ukraine! “- She wrote.
Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group, Member of Parliament (People’s Front)
12.01.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Operational data from Information Resistance:
In the past 24 hours, Russian-terrorist forces have committed some 40 attacks. In particular, in the areas of: • Luhansk – 17 attacks; • Donetsk – 15; • Debaltseve – 5; • Mariupol – 3; • Hranitne – 1.
In the area of Avdiivka and Opytne, Ukrainian artillery inflicted a series of pre-emptive strikes on the Russian-terrorist troops’ lines of concentration – who were preparing to attack. The blows landed on terrorist groups of the “DNR” and Russian military units newly arrived as “replenishments.” Corpses and wounded were evacuated by the enemy to the center of Donetsk, through the Kuibyshev District of the city.
Some 60 Russian “Cossacks” arrived in Donetsk from the south of Luhansk Oblast [region]. The “Cossacks” declared that they are ready to “maintain order” in the city, but are refusing to go to the “front lines.” This sparked a conflict between the “Cossacks” and the “DNR” leadership.
The tactical group of Russian-terrorist troops that had arrived in Horlivka a few days ago engaged in combat with Ukrainian troops near Vuhlehirsk. After the enemy opened mortar fire, Ukrainian artillery retaliated. The enemy’s tactical group ceased firing and retreated further into their positions.
From the positions to the northeast of Makiivka, the enemy made an artillery rocket strike on the eastern outskirts of Horlivka, which is currently controlled by Russian-terrorist troops. According to our data, this was not an armed provocation, but an error on the part of insurgent artillerists, whose training level is very low.
In Makiivka, a “DNR” insurgent supply vehicle was detonated. According to preliminary data, the explosion was a result of the vehicle encountering a makeshift explosive device. There are casualties among the insurgents.
“Vympel” special unit of the Russian FSB [Federal Security Service], which previously operated in the southern Luhansk region, has arrived near Stakhanov. The unit is divided into several combat squads, each of which is able to act independently. During the events in Antratsyt and Krasnyi Luch (skirmishes with “Cossacks”), several Vympel fighters were wounded, but not evacuated to Russia, but rather, transported to Stakhanov.
S.M. Petrovsky, head of the “DNR’s” “chief intelligence directorate” is displaying prominent interest in the property of Tochmash OJSC mechanical engineering plant in Donetsk. The company management has been warned of the impending “shutdown” of the plant, and told to prepare for the removal of the plant’s equipment.
We are pleased to announce that our project, Voices of Ukraine (VoU), has steadily and quietly reached the one year mark!
A lot has happened this year since the call went out to gather on Maidan – both good and grievous. We’ve made many gains in our project, and are proud that it has never lost its essential core: trust in each other and faith in our country.
We don’t pretend to be a worldwide or even nationwide news agency, but if you’re looking to hear people speaking through a lens other than that of the official news – this is the place to come. To the extent of our strengths and abilities, our team tries to unite the thoughts and feelings of Ukrainians to the thoughts and feelings of people from different countries, so that the Ukrainian reality can be better heard around the world.
We thank all of you who have given of your time and skills to translate, edit and help in other ways this year, and a big thanks to all of you who read us. This is a project of pure love and you help spread it. We also want to thank all the wonderful Maidaners, our military and beloved ATO soldiers, Cyborgs, activists, photographers, journalists, leaders from the community, and especially our Ukrainian volunteers and civil society workers – you are the heart of the next generation of what Ukraine will become – and all the other patriots whom we’ve met in this short time – your stories and your spirits remind us all who we truly are. We all turn One together.
Never think you don’t or can’t make a difference. In one year we have been informing and educating minds in the western world and connecting people from the west and east in scores of requests for connections and help in real and actual ways. The network of light has grown. What also continues to grow is who connects to VoU for research or uses it from international media for source material to link to, including: The BBC, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Forbes, Foreign Policy, Business Insider, the Telegraph (UK), Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, USA Today, Israel Foreign Affairs, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The Daily Beast, Slate, KyivPost, World Affairs Journal, eWallstreeter, Ukraine News, Global Voices online, New Republic, Johnson’s Russia List, Svoboda, Ukraine Investigation, Ukraine Scholars of North America, amongst a great many others.
It is our great hope that all of our translations remain research tools for posterity. We are also proud that Voices of Ukraine has been written about as a project in two research books now, and that we see many of the key heads of state and other diplomats involved in decisions on Ukraine re-tweeting our translations. According to our site data, there is only one small country and one group of islands in the world in which Voices of Ukraine has not yet been read.
And to those who have the desire and opportunity to get involved as volunteers in this work – we are always glad to welcome new volunteer translation and editing members to our project!
May every one of us do the very best that we can! It has never been more needed!
PS: We are constantly being asked where to send help. Here are some tried, tested and respected volunteers who are helping Ukraine’s army in many ways. Please unite your efforts with theirs: http://en.shram.kiev.ua/euromaydan/4armycomua.shtml and please look under our “Help for Ukraine” tab from our menu bar to access others under specific categories.
We love you, Ukraine! You fight for the democratic values of the world on every front and we are with you in that battle.
Sincerely yours,
The Voices of Ukraine global team.
By Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistancegroup, Member of Parliament
11.29.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
After promptly solving organizational issues, it is clear that the Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] must immediately hear [the reports of] the heads of security agencies regarding [their] preparedeness to further counteract Russia’s aggression. Together, they must develop a plan of further action (in particular, regarding the top-priority regulatory steps). Without this, the Parliament will sink into the abyss of haphazard decision-making on the ATO [anti-terrorist operation], which will entail much more populism than utility. Even a cursory analysis of the situation at hand provides disappointing conclusions:
1. We are using the so-called “ceasefire” exclusively to resolve ad hoc problems, without looking forward, and extremely inefficiently, at that. The management system remains in its original post-Soviet form. The only bright spot in the logistics is the work of volunteers. The tale told by the Commander-in-Chief about establishing three lines of defense in a number of sectors remains wishful thinking [rather than reality].
2. “Legalization” of volunteer battalions is a great idea. But [we] must create new divisions (first and foremost – mechanized brigades, as well tank – and artillery units). Our military storage facilities hold enough weapons for the new units; we only need to launch the process of their restoration by the defense industry. We also need to negotiate with our neighbors more vigorously – our former “brothers” from the socialist camp still have plenty of the old Soviet weapons at their disposal.
3. Trained reserves. We cannot fight without them (remember the infamous Ilovaisk). Today, our training centers (starting with the 169th, one of the largest [centers] in Europe) should be packed to full capacity. Instead, nothing is happening there.
4. This follows from #2 and 3 – where should we get these reserves? The Defense Ministry rejoices: 2,000 contract soldiers have joined the army since June. This is ridiculous. [We] need a new wave of mobilization.
We have no right to calculate the amount of required forces based on the numbers needed to hold back the 23-25,000 Russian-terrorist forces currently in Donbas. First of all, what would we do if Russia were to introduce an additional 14-16,000 troops (a force of this strength can be deployed [to Ukraine] over a course of a few days, without any problems)? Secondly, we cannot estimate our forces only based on our defense needs. At some point, we will have to attack.
All of the above should have been done yesterday. But, thank God, we still have time. The main thing is not to waste it.
By GlavPost.com 11.24.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Checkpoint on the border with Russia
Donbas partisans reported about their visit to one of the border control checkpoints with highly spiritual and brotherly Russia, though which convoys of equipment pass uncontrollably.
The user zloy-odessit writes in his LiveJournalblog about it:
“The photo shoot held by the braves served two purposes. One, they showed the condition of the control points, which are not protected by either the terrorists or Russian soldiers. And two, they showed that the next column can expect some unpleasant and highly explosive surprises.
“Of course the “surprise” shown here is going to change its location. It would have been naïve to think that they [the partisans] would leave it exactly where they photographed it. Plus, this surprise is by no means the only one. As for the photo shoot itself, its subtext is fairly transparent – no one is hiding the fact that patriotic Ukrainians are at work in eastern Donbas, intending to kill as many occupiers and separatists as they can, while Kyiv is taking its sweet time to liberate its territories and its citizens.
“Now, before crossing this control point [the Russians] will send forward suicidal mine detectors, dog handlers with bomb-sniffing dogs, and a priest with an icon of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, it’s a fifty-fifty chance whether the “surprises” will be found and defused. Thus, a new military column will enter the Ukrainian territory, and it only has a fifty percent chance of being blown up. But the very fact that a shot can come from behind any bush, any bend in the road, at any time – that is demoralizing for the occupiers, many of whom don’t really give a damn about this war,” – the blogger writes.
Source: Patrioty.org.ua
Voices of Ukraine 