By Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group
09.11.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Operational data from Information Resistance:
Ukrainian troops in the conflict zone in Donbas continue to implement measures to strengthen their positions, use engineering machinery to strengthen the line of defense and improve systems of firing. At the same time, the process of restoring the combat capability of our subdivisions and units is being implemented.
Beyond the limits of the crisis zone, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the Interior Ministry equipped more than 100 checkpoints and strong points. Particular attention was given to strengthen defense sector “M” (District of Mariupol).
Everywhere measures are taken to find and neutralize subversive enemy reconnaissance groups.
In turn, the Russian-terrorist troops continued shelling the positions of Ukrainian troops.
In particular:
• the position at the airport in Donetsk was fired on 4 times (1 time by a BM-21 Grad, 1 time by mortars, 2 times from cannon artillery); • Mortars fired at a checkpoint near Maloorlovka; • Mortars fired at stronghold near Pesky village; • Small arms fire on the positions near the town of Shchastya; • Small arms fire on positions near the village of Artema.
According to preliminary data, there were no Ukrainian military casualties overnight.
09.11.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
The Ukrainian World Congress Humanitarian Initiatives, together with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, completed a thorough assessment of the medical services of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
It is grim, to say the least, and Ukraine definitely has its work cut out for it to even begin to meet basic standards for adequate military combat medical capability in all areas from training to field hospital equipment and resources, let alone to meet NATO standards. Regardless, many small drops create an ocean, and the visionary folks at Patriot Defence are working steadily toward informing, equipping, preparing, transforming and long-term sustainability for a vision of NATO-level combat medical training and resources to meet the the challenges of the Ukrainian humanitarian ground reality.
It’s key findings include:
• the average time from a soldier’s point of injury to first medical contact is 20-60 minutes (too long) and that contact is not even a hospital just the first possible contact in the field
• from there it can be 12–18 hours, or even up to 2 days, from point of injury to a field medical hospital with surgical capability
• most of the field hospitals that were visited were completely inadequate for adverse weather, prolonged conflict, or medical operations that meet international standards
• Individual first aid kits (IFAKs) to an international standard for each soldier with accompanied CLS [Combat Life Saver] training is at less than 1% of uniformed troops (approximately 3,600 IFAKs have been given out to ATO servicemen, yet troops number at 6-14,000)
• The special forces medic role with advanced trauma treatment capabilities in the field is non-existent
• There are no armored ambulance transport capabilities to transport patients from active combat areas to casualty evacuation points
• Helicopters used for medical evacuation, what’s left of those not already shot down by Russian forces, are not fit for their purpose for numerous reasons
The list continues…and then the summary goes on to make many recommendations. Among these that of course, every active duty Ukrainian military serviceperson needs to receive an IFAK and the appropriate Combat Life Saver training to know how to use what’s in it, that more field dressings, pressure dressings, updated tourniquets and airway adjuncts, surgical supplies are acutely needed to supply mobile hospitals and to re-supply combat medical teams in the field, more training of doctors and nurses for mobile field hospital training to ITLS and ATLS standards, that the current 3-500 combat medical personnel be trained in the Special Forces medic role with advanced medical bag and equipment, and more.
There are also some serious equipment needs such as: • To dedicate and configure four (4) APCs to function as armored ambulance transport from active combat area to casualty evacuation point • Civilian rotary medical evacuation aircraft need to be purchased or contracted for use throughout the ATO to transport the critically ill and injured following CAMTS guidelines • 20 portable ultrasound devices and adequate training for medical staff to carry-out a eFAST to assist with triage and transport decisions should be implemented for mobile brigade level doctors and paramedics and mobile hospitals in the ATO [anti-terrorism operation zone] • To replace in situ mobile hospitals with modern field hospitals with updated surgical capabilities, emergency medical care, diagnostics, life support facilities and weatherproofing – these mobile hospitals should be strategically placed to serve as combat support hospitals, have rotary winged aircraft access, be in a highly defensible position and have encrypted communication access to regional and central medical support
• Re-usable surgical instruments, c-arm x-ray equipment, and modern anesthesia machines for field hospitals and medical facilities supporting the ATO are required
And the report continues in greater detail. Watch Dr. John Quinn’s presentation of this report earlier today in Kyiv at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center for more details.
“Patriot Defence. Assessment of medical services of the Ministry of Defence.” Dr. Ulana Suprun, Director of Humanitarian Initiatives of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), Mr. Lashenko, Ministry of Defence, and Dr.John Quinn, MPH, MD, Medical Consultant, Ukrainian World Congress took part in the presentation of the report (see video below).
The report of Dr. John Quinn, medical consultant on the project “Protection of the Patriots,” the current state of the system of military medical care and evacuation of soldiers from the fields of battle in Ukraine.
(English) Patriot Defence. Ukraine Crisis Media Center, 11th of September 2014. Dr. John Quinn’s report begins at 5:00 –
See more details: Dr. John Quinn begins to speak in English at 3:04 –
* * *
Please support the heroic efforts of Patriot Defence volunteers working to get Improved First Aid Kits and professional NATO combat medical training into the hands of Ukrainian soldiers to save lives. It’s needed now more urgently than ever.
Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group 09.11.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
1. The State Border Service [of Ukraine] reported: almost 100 units of Russian combat equipment entered Ukraine from Russia. The RNBO [National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine] insists: yes, the Russians are bringing in tanks, APCs and Grad missile launchers, while simultaneously taking out the equipment they had brought earlier.
Essentially, this is a rotation of the Russian occupying contingent in Donbas – the very thing we were allowing for, yesterday. Therefore, we cannot yet rejoice that Russia is leaving Donbas, leaving us to deal with only the local rabble.
VIDEO, from Novoazovsk into Mariupol, a large column of vehicles and tanks for the DNR, 9.11.2014:
2. Moscow is using all means and methods to at least create an impression of Kyiv’s recognition of the DNR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and LNR [Luhansk People’s Republic].
They started from afar. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that they see no reasons for the Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov and the pilot Nadiya Savchenko to be included in the list of hostages to be exchanged under the Minsk protocol. Supposedly, the protocol applies to “prisoners of war captured by the parties (in conflict) during combat.”
Firstly, the very fact that Moscow has no intention of freeing Ukrainian citizens that it detained without any legal grounds is evidence of the Kremlin’s blatant disregard of the very notion of law. It is, by far, not the first evidence of such an attitude.
Secondly, it’s unclear, what kind of “military prisoners taken by the parties in conflict” are we even talking about? If we work based on the norms of international law, we cannot speak of any prisoners of war taken by the DPR and the LPR, period. Because, according to the Third Geneva Convention (1949), only a military serviceman can be a prisoner of war. However, the “DPR” and the “LPR” are not armed forces, but terrorist organizations, as declared by the Ukrainian judicial system.
Accordingly, since Russia wants to talk legalese, then captured insurgents are legally classified as criminals detained for terrorist activity. While military serviceman and civilians captured by insurgents are hostages, and nothing else. Therefore, if Russia is keeping the hostages that the terrorists handed over to it, then it’s understood that it [Russia] fully shares the liability for the terrorist activities in question.
One must be careful throwing these terms around. God knows what Moscow will come up with next.
On that subject, our state authorities should not be saying that captured Russian soldiers are being set free because we are not [officially] at war with Russia. That is pure nonsense. If Russian soldiers are taken prisoner while taking part in military operations as combatants – then they are prisoners of war, according to all norms of international law, and it’s irrelevant whether we are in a state of war with Russia or not.
Refugees who gradually return to the cities of Donetsk oblast are welcomed into the open arms of the DNR – or rather, a division of that organization titled NKVD [named after the security service of the Soviet Union]. (It is strange they did not call it Gestapo, although the difference is immaterial now.) The task of the Donetsk NKVD is to carry out “filtering work” and actively search for “public enemies” among the locals. All local residents are having their registration checked, and anyone without registration is placed under arrest. According to our data, the “NKVD headquarters” are located on the 8th floor of the oblast state administration in Donetsk.
We await the first reports of concentration camps being created in the DNR. We have already heard enough about the tortures and executions eagerly practiced by the “loyal followers of Stalin” working for this new NKVD.
The good news:
1. The Ministry of Defense plans to receive 145 samples of new military equipment before the end of year. Those samples will include new planes, helicopters, APCs, and more. The plan also includes over 500 samples of side arms, over 2000 surveillance and sighting devices, and 200 new communication devices.
Sadly, the MoD did not disclose how many units of which equipment will be purchased – so it is difficult to judge the real extent of success here. For example, 50 strike planes like SU-25 would be nice (even though it is unclear from where the sorely needed combat planes and helicopters would be bought, since Ukraine only manufactures transport and passenger aircraft). On the other hand, 50 armored personnel carriers is merely a drop in the ocean. Still, the very statement about modernization of armaments is a highly positive thing.
2. The Ukrainian MoD also said that they repaired 12 thousand pieces of military equipment. They also specified that the main problem with the equipment was caused “by its infrequent use.”
12,000 pieces of equipment is a great thing to have. But, gentlemen, military officials, let’s call a spade a spade. The cause for disrepair was not “infrequent use” (stored in adequate conditions and regularly maintained, equipment is in no danger of disrepair), but massive-scale embezzlement in the army. That was why so much of the equipment in storage has been cannibalized – a fact that came to life with the start of military action.
And if the military prosecutor’s office and the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] fail to find and punish the guilty parties now, then new purchases will be pointless. Embezzlement in the army will continue to flourish, with all ensuing consequences.
3. The Kremlin continues to entertain the masses with “adequate responses” to western sanctions. Earlier, as you may remember, it banned food imports from the European Union, causing prices in some regions of the Russian Federation to soar by 30%. (Today, after the implementation of new EU sanctions was announced, the ruble rate against the dollar dropped to a historical low on the Moscow Stock Exchange.)
Today, Andrey Belousov, Assistant to the President of Russia, declared that Russia prepared “retaliatory measures against the new EU sanctions package” and may ban imports of cars and some types of clothes. (He must be a brave man indeed.)
You can just picture a visual of an ordinary Russian in the nearest future: hungry, dressed in a vatnik [quilted coat] and lapti [bast shoes], struggling to push his broken-down Lada out of the roadside ditch, to get to the nearest town, where, he heard, they were selling some food… God help you, dear Russian friends. For all this, you can thank Uncle Vova [Vladimir Putin]. And to think that the only thing he had to do was stop his aggression…
By Press Service of FEMEN
09.11.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
The women’s movement FEMEN held a rally against Putin and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine
A woman from the group FEMEN, taking the “relay baton from Vladimir Putin,” poured iced Ukrainian blood over herself on the territory of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra– Moscow Patriarchate [orthodox], stated the press service of the FEMEN action.
On FEMEN’s website it explained that together with Putin, “Ukrainian blood is generously poured over Patriarch Kirill and recently appointed Metropolitan Onufry. Both actively hallow Putin’s war, reveling in the sacrificial blood of Ukrainians.”
Sources: Focus.ua, femen.org Photos: Focus.ua and Press Service of FEMEN
By Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group
09.11.2014 Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Operational intelligence data from Information Resistance:
The situation in the zone of the Donbas conflict remains difficult. Ukrainian troops carry out activities to strengthen defense, restore combat units, repel attacks and neutralize subversive enemy reconnaissance groups.
Russian-terrorist troops continue to grossly violate the terms of the ceasefire by firing on the positions of Ukrainian troops.
In particular, overnight the positions of Ukrainian troops at the airport in Donetsk were shelled three times. The shelling was carried out with mortars.
Of MLRS BM-21 Grad security forces fired at positions near Verkhnya Krynka [Donetsk Oblast]. The shelling was carried out from the direction of Hartsyzsk.
Mortars were fired at a checkpoint near Maloorlovka.
A stronghold near Krasnohorivka was fired on using cannon artillery.
According to Information Resistance operational data, in some areas of Donetsk region the terrorists are conducting a regrouping of their forces.
Concurrently, there is a gradual withdrawal of Russian troops to the territory of the Russian Federation. However, on Ukrainian territory remain instructors amongst whom are regular staff officers of the Russian army, who are engaged in the preparation of groups of local militants.
In particular, in the area of Telmanove (Donetsk region), there is a marked concentration of militants totaling up to 1,000 people, with whom the Russian military carries out daily activities. Also noted is an accumulation of armored vehicles.
In the area of Bezymenne (Novoazovsk district, Donetsk Oblast/region) there has been noted activity of the Russian-terrorist troops. Throughout the day yesterday, at least 10 tanks were transferred from the Russian Federation.
In the same district, within three days, a complex electronic surveillance system was fixed onto an enemy minivan, an unmarked Volkswagen T5, to lead the intelligence exploration of Ukrainian troop positions in the area of Mariupol.
Also, about 20 Russian tanks were deployed in the area of Rosa Luxembourg (Novoazovsk district, Donetsk Oblast).
According to the operational data of Information Resistance, the Russian-terrorist troops are preparing armed provocations to disrupt the “truce” announced at the signing of the Minsk protocol.
In particular, according to our data, the terrorists have planned attacks on Donetsk using an MLRS Grad in order to blame it on Ukrainian troops.
Currently, there is movement of two MLRS BM-21 Grad units, which can be used in the framework of this plan, recorded in the area of Elenovka.
Since the beginning of the ceasefire, Ukrainian troops have respected the truce, opening fire only in case of an attack on their position. In this, Ukrainian subdivisions used only small arms. Artillery (including rocket) and aircraft are not used.
By Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group
Voices of Ukraine 