US State Department’s Fact List Showing Russia’s Continued Support for Armed Separatists in Ukraine

Posted on July 15, 2014 by chervonaruta

Russia’s Continuing Support for Armed Separatists in Ukraine and Ukraine’s Efforts Toward Peace, Unity, and Stability

Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 14, 2014

The United States’ goal throughout the crisis in Ukraine has been to support a democratic Ukraine that is stable, unified, secure both politically and economically, and able to determine its own future. Therefore, we support ongoing dialogue among the foreign ministers from Ukraine, Germany, France, and Russia to work toward a sustainable ceasefire by all parties in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine that would build toward a lasting peace. We should emphasize, however, that our ultimate goal is not just a temporary halt to violence. We want Russia to stop destabilizing Ukraine and occupying Crimea, a part of Ukraine’s territory, and allow all of the people of Ukraine to come together to make their own decisions about their country’s future through a democratic political process.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko has proposed a detailed peace plan that includes a promise of amnesty for separatists who laid down their arms voluntarily, and who are not guilty of capital crimes, decentralization of powers within Ukraine, and protection of the Russian language. He also implemented a unilateral ten-day ceasefire on June 20 to create room for a political solution, which unfortunately was not reciprocated by the separatists and their Russian backers.

While Russia says it seeks peace, its actions do not match its rhetoric. We have no evidence that Russia’s support for the separatists has ceased. In fact, we assess that Russia continues to provide them with heavy weapons, other military equipment and financing, and continues to allow militants to enter Ukraine freely. Russia denies this, just as it denied its forces were involved in Crimea — until after the fact. Russia has refused to call for the separatists to lay down their arms, and continues to mass its troops along the Ukrainian border. Many self-proclaimed “leaders” of the separatists hail from Russia and have ties to the Russian government. This all paints a telling picture of Russia’s continued policy of destabilization in eastern Ukraine.

Here are the facts:

  • Russia continues to accumulate significant amounts of equipment at a deployment site in southwest Russia. This equipment includes tanks of a type no longer used by the Russian military, as well as armored vehicles, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, and air defense systems. Russia has roughly doubled the number of tanks, armored vehicles, and rocket launchers at this site. More advanced air defense systems have also arrived at this site.
  • We are confident Moscow is mobilizing additional tanks that are no longer in the active Russian military inventory from a depot to send to this same deployment site.
  • We are concerned much of this equipment will be transferred to separatists, as we are confident Russia has already delivered tanks and multiple rocket launchers to them from this site.
  • Available information indicates Moscow has recently transferred some Soviet-era tanks and artillery to the separatists and that over the weekend several military vehicles crossed the border.
  • Social media videos of separatist military convoys suggest Russia in the past week alone has probably supplied the militants with at least two-dozen additional armored vehicles and artillery pieces and about as many military trucks.
  • Publicly available videos posted on July 14 of a Luhansk convoy on the road to Donetsk revealed at least five T-64 tanks, four BMP-2 armored personnel carriers (APC), BM-21 multiple rocket launchers, three towed antitank guns, two ZU 23-2 antiaircraft guns, and probably a 2B16 mortar.
  • A video of Krasnodon, near the Izvaryne border crossing, on 11 July showed two BTR armored personnel carriers, two antitank guns, and various trucks on a road heading in a westerly direction towards Donetsk.
  • A video filmed in Donetsk on 11 July showed a convoy of three BMD-2 APCs, two BMPs, one 2S9 self-propelled gun, and a BTR-60 APC.
  • In addition, after recapturing several Ukrainian cities last weekend, Ukrainian officials discovered caches of weapons that they assert came from Russia, including MANPADS, mines, grenades, MREs, vehicles, and a pontoon bridge.
  • Ukrainian forces have discovered large amounts of other Russian-provided military equipment, including accompanying documentation verifying the Russian origin of said equipment, in the areas they have liberated from the separatists.
  • Photographs of destroyed or disabled separatist equipment in eastern Ukraine have corroborated that some of this equipment is coming from Russia.
  • Recruiting efforts for separatist fighters are expanding inside Russia and separatists are looking for volunteers with experience operating heavy weapons such as tanks and air defenses. Russia has allowed officials from the “Donetsk Peoples’ Republic” to establish a recruiting office in Moscow.
  • Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who has long had a distinguished career in the Ukrainian military, was taken by separatists in mid-June. She is now being held in a prison in Voronezh, Russia. According to the Ukrainian government, she was transferred to Russia by separatists.
  • Separately Russia continues to redeploy new forces extremely close to the Ukrainian border. We have information that a significant number of additional military units are also in the process of deploying to the border.

Ukraine’s Good-Faith Efforts: In a bid to unify the country, President Poroshenko outlined a comprehensive peace plan on June 7. President Poroshenko’s plan offers amnesty to separatists who lay down their arms voluntarily, and who are not guilty of capital crimes; commits to providing a safe corridor for Russian fighters to return to Russia; establishes a job creation program for the affected areas; includes an offer of broad decentralization and dialogue with eastern regions, including the promise of early local elections; and grants increased local control over language, holidays, and customs. President Poroshenko also has reached out to the residents of eastern Ukraine and is pursuing constitutional reform which will give local regions more authority to choose their regional leaders and protect locally-spoken languages.

President Poroshenko implemented a unilateral seven-day (later extended to ten days) unilateral ceasefire on June 20. He also proposed meeting with leaders from eastern Ukraine – including separatists – despite their stated unwillingness to abide by the cease-fire or to negotiate.

Yet Russia and its proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk did not act on this opportunity for peace. Hours after the ceasefire began, Russia-backed separatists wounded nine Ukrainian service members. During the course of the ten-day ceasefire, Russia-backed separatists attacked Ukrainian security forces over 100 times, killing 28 service members. The separatists continue to hold more than 150 hostages, mostly civilians, including teachers and journalists. Separatists have refused all offers by the Ukrainian government to meet.

This timeline of events leading to, during, and after the unilateral Ukraine ceasefire illustrates how the good-faith efforts of the Ukraine government and European leaders to broker a ceasefire with Russia and the separatists it backs have been rejected. Russia and the separatists they are supporting continued to destabilize Ukraine throughout the ceasefire, and continue to destabilize Ukraine today.

  • May 25: Petro Poroshenko, who had campaigned on a platform stressing reconciliation with the east and Russia, is elected by an absolute majority of voters in Ukraine.
  • June 8-17: President Poroshenko hosts five rounds of contact group talks, facilitated by the OSCE envoy, in the lead-up to his announcement of a ceasefire.
  • June 12: Poroshenko initiates a call to President Putin to open communication.
  • June 14: EU-brokered gas talks end with a final EU brokered proposal: Ukraine accepts the proposal, but Russia rejected it.
  • June 19: Poroshenko meets with eastern Ukrainian leaders, including separatists, in Kyiv.
  • June 20: Poroshenko implements a seven-day unilateral ceasefire. Hours later, nine Ukrainian service members are wounded by pro-Russian separatists, foreshadowing separatists’ 100 plus violent actions over the next 10 days.
  • June 23: The contact group meets in Donetsk.
  • June 25: NATO Secretary General Rasmussen notes that there are “no signs” of Russia respecting its international commitments with regard to Ukraine.
  • June 27: Ukraine provides constitutional reform provisions to the Venice Commission for review. This reform would allow for the direct election of governors and for local authorities to confer special status on minority languages within their regions.
  • June 27: Poroshenko extends the unilateral ceasefire another 72 hours to allow another chance for OSCE contact group negotiations to show progress.
  • June 28: Ukraine shoots down two Russian UAVs violating Ukraine’s airspace in the Luhansk region.
  • June 30: Due to the separatists’ refusal to abandon violence in favor of negotiation, President Poroshenko allows the cease-fire to expire.
  • July 3: President Poroshenko in a telephone conversation with U.S. Vice President Biden reaffirms that he is ready to begin political negotiations to resolve the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions without any additional conditions.
  • July 8: President Petro Poroshenko visits the former rebel stronghold of Slovyansk to meet with local residents after government forces recapture it from pro-Russian separatists.
  • July 9: Ukraine restores electricity and train service to Slovyansk, and Ukrainian security forces distribute food, drinking water, and humanitarian aid to the population.
  • July 11: The Ukrainian government establishes an inter-agency task force in Slovyansk that is conducting damage, security, and humanitarian needs assessments.
  • July 11: The Ukrainian government reports that it delivered over 60 tons of humanitarian aid supplies in Donetsk Oblast over the preceding 24 hours, bringing the five-day total to 158 tons. President Poroshenko announces that Ukrainian security forces had successfully cleared nearly 100 mines and roadside bombs from liberated territory.

As General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, stated on July 1: “The cease fire in Ukraine was not ended because of accusations; it was ended because Russian-backed separatists responded with violence while President Poroshenko tried to open a window for peace. Russia’s commitment to peace will be judged by its actions, not its words.” As the United States and our European allies have repeatedly stated, we call on the Russian government to halt its material support for the separatists, to use its influence with the separatists to push them to lay down their arms and abide by a ceasefire and to release all hostages. Only then can the process of bringing peace to Ukraine truly begin.

Source:

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Sexual slavery in occupied Luhansk

Posted on July 15, 2014 by chervonaruta

By Vsevolod Filimonenko, journalist at VEZDE
07.13.2014 08:53
Translated by Denis Gregoriev and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Media stays silent about this topic: Sexual slavery is taking place in the occupied town of Luhansk.

In the occupied office buildings of Luhansk Oblast [region], there are not only men in captivity, but also women (girls), but Ukrainian media often unknowingly remains silent about this issue, while Russian TV channels hide it based on orders coming from the Kremlin. As I learned from the parents of Marina K., their 18-year-old daughter was held in the building of the Luhansk SBU, and together with her in a small room with sealed windows there were about 40 other girls from Luhansk, all aged from 17 to 22 years old. Marina’s parents asked for help from Ukrainian police, internal investigative forces, even Russian journalists (since there was no other alternative), but all to no avail. Yesterday, Marina’s mom found my number on Facebook, called me and told me the following story:

“July 6th was the first time when Marina told me (her mom) where she (Marina) was, she called me from an unknown number and said that she was still alive, but was taken by the rebels and was held captive in Luhansk at the SBU building.”

A further telephone conversation went as follows, as explained by the mom:

“What are you doing there, why did you not call me earlier?” –asked Mom.

“I did not call because they don’t allow anyone to make a phone call. Right now all the insurgents are asleep because they are drunk and I was able to quietly take one of their phones and make a call. There are many of us here, about 40 people, all girls about my age, maybe a couple of years older. They (rebels) promise to release us after their victory, but when that actually happens–nobody knows” –answered Marina.

“Why do they need you as their hostage? Do they hit you?” –asked Mom.

“Sit down, it will be hard for you to hear this… they don’t beat us as long as we do what they ask us to do… we help them to… “relax” after the battles. You know what I mean?” –answered Marina.

“They rape you?” –cried Mom.

“They stick us with needles that have some mind-numbing substance, which forces us to stop thinking temporarily, and during that time they do with us whatever they want. Girls here are constantly changing, new ones arrive, while others are taken “to work” at checkpoints, then they do not come back here again. I don’t know what happens to them. I might go mad soon. ” –confessed Marina.

At the end of the conversation, Marina said: “Oh, Mom, I think someone’s coming. I’ll try to call you if I can again…” and hung up.

“She never called me back.” said the mom. “Where she went and what she is doing now, I don’t know. I can’t even imagine what they are doing with these girls at the checkpoints where they are taken to. Surely, they are not taken there to sing songs! ” –said the mother and cried…

After that, I only have one question for the President. When will he give a military order “to invade the town of Luhansk?” Petro (Editor’s note: the Ukrainian President’s first name is Peter), if your Anti-Terrorist attack will continue to unfold at this slow pace, where people in charge tell you they need more time, then Lugansk might not have anymore people left in it much longer, and those who do survive will not want to go on living after the horrors they experienced while living in this occupation.

Source: uainfo.org

RELATED INFORMATION:
Espreso.TV: The terrorists forced their captives girls to “serve.”
Reporter Bianca Zalewski, who recently returned from the ATO zone retells the terrible details. The terrorists force the prisoners to serve them, she said on the air Espreso.TV.

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Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – July 14, 2014

Posted on July 15, 2014 by tilamuse

Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
07.14.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

Brothers and sisters!

information_resistance_logo_engHere’s the Summary for July 14, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for July 11).

The bad news:

1. Today, the enemy shot down our [cargo] plane An-26. There is no clear information regarding all the crewmembers, let’s hope that the guys will be alright. It is currently known that two pilots have been captured by the insurgents. I believe that the Ministry of Defense will do everything possible to ensure their release.

The plane was shot down at an altitude of 6,500 meters [21,325 feet]. The MANPADS used by terrorists (including the latest Russian 9K333 “Willow”) don’t shoot this high. On these grounds, the RNBO [National Security and Defense Council] suggests that our plane was shot down by either a Russian fighter jet, or a Russian MANPAD from the territory of the Russian Federation.

Taking into account that the Russian army no longer hesitates to support terrorists by openly moving its equipment designed for insurgents across the border, there was nothing surprising about such “support.” And the more successfully the ATO advances, the less effort the Kremlin is making to mask its aggression against Ukraine.

2. NATO has once again called on Russia to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border. Meanwhile, the leaders of some European members of NATO are all broadcasting about some “negotiations of parties in Ukraine through Russia as an intermediary” and the “peaceful settlement of the problem.”

Those leaders can be understood. They [act out of] their obviously selfish interests–”Gazprom” neither sleeps nor skimps. And it is quite obvious that these gentlemen are more frightened of penniless old age than the safety of their own continent.

3. Once more about the unhealthy resonance around the “Russian invasion.” I already gave a separate comment about the “Russian invasion of July 15” (regarding the media broadcasts of my morning announcement), let me repeat it again.

Nobody says that tomorrow there will be a Russian war against Ukraine in a different format than the one that we have been seeing for [the past] four months. As of tomorrow, the commanders of the Russian special forces groups must be ready for deployment to Ukraine. We already went through it in April, when the Russian subversive and reconnaissance groups [SRG] roamed around Donbas just like in [their own] home.

We, the IR group, do not think that Russia is ready for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine–with escalating numbers of Russian troops on the border, we don’t observe “complete” operational and tactical groups, which will be able to carry out such an invasion. Perhaps there will be attempts to invade under the guise of “peacekeepers,” but this is clearly a fallback. For now, the Kremlin’s task is to maximally destabilize the situation in Donbas with the goal to draw the conflict out into a full-blown civil war.

There is one way to counter this scenario: to effectively continue the ATO, and to begin with carving out terrorist groups from the Russian border. And this is generally what the ATO forces are doing now. I sincerely believe that these efforts will be crowned with complete success. But just the very preparation by Russia to expand the format of its secret aggression against Ukraine is not encouraging.

The good news:

1. Ukrainian President P. Poroshenko, at a meeting with security officials, announced the need for a change in the ATO tactics. The main tasks are to narrow the ATO zone, to strengthen the protection of borders, and to do everything possible to ensure the protection of peaceful civilians. 

[There is] nothing to add. At issue is the execution of these tasks.

2. The ATO forces continue their active operations. For the past 24 hours, a number of settlements in Luhansk Oblast have been liberated of terrorists.

I must say that the situation in the area remains very tense. The insurgents are trying to impose their initiative on the ATO forces, freeing the territory proves to be very difficult. But we are moving towards victory–even if it’s not as fast as we would like.

3. Once again, about the European leaders. As reported by our media, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is more often referred to as “Frau [von] Ribbentrop” in social networks because of her rather strange position on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and unhealthy sympathy for Putin. [This] trolling started in June at least.

… I understand why Poles are our first ally today. Our western neighbors remember how in 1939, Berlin and Moscow took long-suffering Poland to pieces. In 2014, history repeats itself in the case of Ukraine. Only now the roles have been divided–Berlin acts as inactive and passive participant of the bloody show. But the essence remains the same.

However, if Merkel is called “Frau [von] Ribbentrop” in Europe, then not all [Europeans] have forgotten the lessons of history. And that gives us hope.

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk FB 

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DMITRY TYMCHUK: A couple of words about current events in Eastern Ukraine

Posted on July 14, 2014 by tilamuse

Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
07.14.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

information_resistance_logo_engOver the past few days, terrorists have been trying to take revenge following the successful actions of ATO forces after the ceasefire of June 20–30 lapsed. Earlier, after fleeing from Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and other settlements, the terrorists were significantly demoralized, which forced the Russian leadership to make a drastic change in the format of its ongoing aggression carried out in Ukraine.

We, the Information Resistance group, note the following steps of Russia in this direction:

1. The continued active movement of heavy military equipment and mercenaries across the state border from the territory of the Russian Federation. Previously, during the ceasefire, security forces reported that they had “full control” of the border. The IR group announced the opposite to be true (although we do work closely with government agencies, we are convinced that one should not engage in wishful thinking, especially on such fundamental and important issues).

A distinctive feature of the current equipment transfer to terrorists is that it is predominantly staffed with military personnel and combat crews from among the Russian servicemen.

Formerly, the crews were staffed with Russian mercenaries who had previous experience with similar equipment, but who were reservists at the time of recruitment (also, the teams were partially manned with insurgents from among the locals with necessary military specialties).

Therefore, we are talking about a full-scale Russian military invasion of Donbas.

2. At the same time, the insurgents are creating conditions to “soften” the international reaction to the Russian invasion.

In particular, in agreement with the Russian side, throughout the past week the terrorists have been conducting planned artillery shelling of the Russian Federation territory from the border areas of Ukraine. This enables Moscow to claim that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are shelling the Russian territory.

At the beginning of these incidents, it appeared as if the insurgents fired unintentionally, in the course of their armed confrontations with the ATO forces. However, there is currently no doubt that this is a thoroughly planned special operation.

In particular, the attacks are happening outside the combat zone–[they are initiated] from the districts free of ATO forces. The Russian side instantly reacts to these shellings by expressing its protests and threats without any investigation of circumstances of similar incidents.

3. The Russian Armed Forces are shelling the positions of Ukrainian security forces from the border regions of Russia. They also intrude into the territory of Ukraine to carry out particular missions and operations.

This is another component of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

4. The active transfer of units of Russian troops that began on June 30 to the border areas across from Sumy and Kharkiv Oblasts, where no combat is underway, has become a diversion from the Russian Armed Forces operation in Donbas.

Unlike the transfer of Russian troops into Rostov Oblast of Russia (across from Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of Ukraine), this relocation is being conducted defiantly, without any measures to conceal it.

Some of the equipment and weapons used by Russian military units bears the identification signs of the Russian “peacekeeping forces.” Parallel to this, Russia has once again raised the issue of bringing its “peacekeepers” to Ukraine.

There is no doubt that this operation is underway in order to divert Ukrainian special forces away from the ATO area to protect the state border with the Russian Federation in those Oblasts.

5. In parallel to this, Russia is conducting a powerful foreign policy operation to enhance EU pressure on Ukraine in order to force Ukraine to stop active operations in Donbas. And the “first echelon” of the Russian lobby in the EU appears to be Germany.

Therefore, after a pause taken by Putin in the Ukrainian conflict (or rather a slight decrease in the activity of conflict escalation), Russia is once again demonstrating its determination to continue the aggression.

Only the active ATO in Donbas (primarily, to cleave out terrorist forces and the Russian army in the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts from the state border with Russia, with the creation of a “buffer zone”), and harsh reaction by the international community aimed at forcing the Kremlin to stop military aggression against Ukraine, can counteract this plan.

Source: sprotyv.info

 

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A Summary About the War as of July 14

Posted on July 14, 2014 by chervonaruta

By Yuriy Kasyanov
07.14.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

The Ukrainian army has ended the blockade of Luhansk airport. That’s good. But, columns with hundreds of pieces of military equipment have entered Ukrainian territory–that’s bad. The occupiers are increasing their strength, and taking men by force into the “militia,” and calling on their ranks of mercenaries from Russia. For these men, the trip to the front is a one way ticket. Russian border guards freely allow the armed men and military equipment into Ukraine, but they do not allow anyone back in. Putin gave the command to stand to the last. According to eyewitnesses hotels and hostels in Luhansk are clogged with armed men, it’s the same story in Donetsk.

We have learned how to fight. We will defeat the reptiles. The Kremlin runt [Yanukovych] is desperately trying to save the remnants of separatism in Eastern Ukraine. Regular units and the air force of the Russian Federation have been activated to cover the incursion of military columns across the border. The leaders of the bandits say they have an Su-25 aircraft, claiming that they took it after a forced landing, and that it is already “striking at Ukrainian positions.” The ministry of defense denies that the plane has been taken; the strikes against our troops were probably carried out by the Russian air force, and the fake story about the aircraft being seized was a propaganda cover up. The Grad rocket launchers and tanks which they are using against our forces are also from Russia. The border is not just open, it is controlled by Russian forces and militia men. A wide scale military operation along the whole border from Donetsk to Luhansk will be needed to change the situation. We do not seem to have the strength for that yet.

Russia and its puppets in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts are now waging a mass propaganda attack for the possibility of direct intervention by Russian forces in Ukraine. This is what it seems like from the terrorists’ side:

  • “NEWSFLASH: Several Ukrainian bombs have exploded in the Rostov Oblast [region], there are dead and wounded”–that is, they try to make it look as if Ukrainian troops have allegedly attacked peaceful citizens of the Russian Federation, but it is a justification for an “suitable response.” In 1939 Hitler faked a Polish attack on a German radio station at Gliwice which was used as a formal excuse to declare war.
  • “A Ukrainian air force plane violated Russian air space,” yet another excuse for military intervention.
  • “Igor Strelkov: the enemy has sent about 70 tanks to attack Luhansk, 4 Apache antitank helicopters have been deployed in Novorossiya” –well, of course: dozens of Ukrainian tanks are hurting the unhappy inhabitants of Luhansk and the treacherous Americans have given them helicopters. The implication is that it is time for Russia to help its compatriots.
  • “The militias declared their first attack with the captured Su-25.” Who actually checked whose plane this was? So now why not make a “completely legal” attack with dozens of Russian aircraft on the positions of the Ukrainian army under the guise of the “air force of the Donetsk republic”?
  • “Reinforcements have arrived: large columns of insurgents’ military units have arrived in Luhansk: tanks, Grad rocket launchers, combat vehicles and trucks” –the article does not even hide where the “reinforcements” have come from. It is written unambiguously: “Russian tanks.” And of course, how could peaceful Russian tanks not go to Luhansk to help their brothers?

It’s a pity that Girkin made it out of Sloviansk alive. He has managed to unite under his command most of the gangs, and to enlist the full support of the Russian leadership. Putin has nowhere to retreat: the failure of the special operation in eastern Ukraine means his political death. Defeat in Ukraine for Putler would be much worse than vague Western sanctions.

We have a big fight on our hands: we can expect a counter offensive from the insurgents, and a direct intervention from Russia under the pretext of a “peaceful humanitarian intervention.” The war has gone into a new phase, which might need an effort from all our forces, especially as we cannot rely on concrete help from lifeless western democracies or from an America which is tired of so many constant wars…it cannot even count them.

Want to help our military right now? Join the civil initiative АРМИЯ SOS

Source: Yuriy Kasyanov FB

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