Subject: ON TREATING UKRAINE LIKE GEORGIA – A REPLY TO PAUL SAUNDERS Date: Sun, 30 Aug 201 From: Kirk Bennett <kirkbennett7@yahoo.com> ON TREATING UKRAINE LIKE GEORGIA – A REPLY TO PAUL SAUNDERS By Kirk Bennett Kirk Bennett was the Senior Georgia Desk Officer at the State Department from 2007-09. Kudos to Paul Saunders for his spot-on exposition of U.S. policy […]
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(Interfax – August 29, 2015) Russian nationalist politician Eduard Limonov, leader of the banned National Bolshevik party (whose members make up most of the Other Russia party), says his members are continuing to fight with the separatist militias in southeast Ukraine, despite not being allowed to lead units or engage in political activity there, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported […]
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DONETSK. Aug 27 (Interfax) – The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic allows for the possibility of carrying out a new prisoner swap with Ukraine next week. “According to the official data, 450-460 prisoners of war are being held by the other side in addition to civilians. These are those who have been reported,” Viktor Anosov, a representative of the DPR military […]
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A meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk with representatives from the Donetsk and Lugansk “people’s republics” has ended with the parties agreeing to a ceasefire effective from Sept. 1. However, experts are not convinced this a breakthrough on the path to peace. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Eekaterina Sinelschikova, RBTH – August 27, 2015) The participants of […]
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DONETSK. Aug 26 (Interfax) – The Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has observed 30 incidents of shelling from the Ukrainian side over the past day, a ministry representative said on Wednesday. “The Ukrainian army has committed 30 ceasefire violations over the past day. Some 113 82mm and 120mm mines, 85 152mm artillery shells and 15 tank […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Josh Rogin, Eli Lake – August 21, 2015) As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces took over Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in early 2014, the interim Ukrainian government was debating whether or not to fight back against the “little green men” Russia had deployed. But the message from the Barack Obama administration was clear: avoid military confrontation with […]
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Both Ukraine’s government and its rebel provinces have rebuilt their militaries, raising the stakes should the latest violence turn into all out combat.
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Volodymyr Verbyany, Aliaksandr Kudrytski – August 18, 2015) Ukraine said attacks by pro-Russian insurgents in its easternmost regions abated for the first time in eight days, allaying concern that a six-month-old peace accord is unraveling. Ukrainian officials said they saw a drop in the use of heavy weaponry and reported no new civilian deaths overnight after […]
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If Ukraine held a referendum regarding NATO membership in July 2015, more than half of Ukrainians casting their ballots would vote for joining the alliance, as is evident from a sociological survey of 2,011 respondents conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives foundation and the Razumkov Center sociological service on July 22-27, 2015. click here for Interfax-Ukraine: “Most Ukrainians […]
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Experts note that assistance of mental health professionals provided in due time can prevent the irretrievable act.
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AFP covers Ukraine’s unfolding efforts to fortify its border with Russia with defensive structures. … the ambitious project to seal up Ukraine’s porous 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) frontier with its ex-Soviet neighbour was announced in March 2014 after Moscow seized … Crimea …. … over a year later, only a small fraction of the $250-million (225-million-euro) project that Kiev hopes could help […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Daryna Krasnolutska – August 12, 2015) Ukraine said pro-Russian militants intensified attacks on government troops overnight in a bid to win ground, a sign the recent surge in fighting is worsening. Tensions in the 16-month conflict rose this week as the army reported renewed assaults on a village in the Donetsk region, an accusation the separatists […]
» Read moreMOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Armed Forces have fired heavy weapons against the town of Horlivka, the Donetsk news agency reported on Thursday, citing the information and analytical department of the town’s administration. “The shelling began at 10:30 p.m. Some heavy [weapons] were fired. Shells dropped near the village of Oksenivka,” it said. According to the local authorities, […]
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KYIV. Aug 11 (Interfax) – The United Kingdom will double its contribution to efforts to train Ukraine’s military, UK Secretary of Defense Michael Fallon has said. Speaking at a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kyiv, Fallon described today’s situation in the east of Ukraine as extremely complicated. A lot of people have been killed and there are […]
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At a thickly forested former youth camp west of Donetsk in war-torn eastern Ukraine, a military instructor is busy teaching hundreds of new recruits how to fire everything from machine guns to rocket-propelled grenades.
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On the road into Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, Vasyl, a Ukrainian army soldier, gestures at fresh roadside craters – the result of shelling by Russian-backed separatists the night before. His men face attacks almost nightly as they guard a checkpoint in this front line suburb of rebel-held Donetsk, he says.
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DONETSK. July 31 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Armed Forces have violated the ceasefire on 47 occasions in the past 24 hours, the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has said. “Fifty artillery shells with 152mm and 122mm calibers, 51 tank shells and 198 mines with 82mm and 120mm calibers have been fired against the territory of Donbas. […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Aliaksandr Kudrytski – July 28, 2015) The battle readiness of Ukraine’s military and the rebels it’s fighting in the country’s east is at its highest level since a February truce, monitors warned, a situation that risks tipping the conflict back into war. After more than a year of fighting, sides are fortifying positions and […]
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Writing for Chatham House, James Sherr addresses Western support for Ukraine admidst the Russo-Ukrainian War. … the West has acted on the premise that economic sanctions would induce Russia to modify its actions. But while sanctions do constrain capacity, they do not constrain behaviour. Their immediate impact is bearable … they do nothing to diminish Russia’s most usable and effective form of power: military force. […]
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AFP covers U.S.-Ukrainian relations and recent military drills near Ukraine’s border with Poland. Ukrainian and US troops launched fresh drills Monday near the war-torn country’s Polish border in a bid to show unity and resolve in the face of an increasingly resurgent Kremlin. The annual Rapid Trident exercises involve 1,800 soldiers from 18 countries and last for just under two […]
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Ukraine Today reports on Ukrainian intelligence threat assessments regarding Russian or Russia-backed forces. … Poroshenko says military intelligence officials have confirmed … Russia could rapidly launch a fresh invasion … at any moment …. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has warned … Russia had completed … preperations to launch a massive new invasion in three different directions along the contact line … in the Donbas. … […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Brian Whitmore – July 21, 2015) Just one sentence, inserted into a complex piece of legislation, caused some to wonder whether Kyiv has been sold out by its Western allies. One sentence that was too much for many Ukrainians. One sentence that was not enough for the Kremlin. One sentence that the United States reportedly lobbied […]
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LUHANSK. June 30 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian army has shelled the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) twelve times in the past four days, using armaments and hardware prohibited by the Minsk agreements, deputy chief of staff of the LPR militia corps Col. Igor Yashchenko has said. “Violations of the Minsk agreements by the Ukrainian Armed Forces are […]
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(Stratfor.com – June 23, 2015) Conversation: The Standoff Between Russia and the West Over Ukraine is republished with permission of Stratfor; article also appeared at stratfor.com/video/conversation-standoff-between-russia-and-west-over-ukraine. Transcript follows below video. Video Transcript Lauren Goodrich: Hello, my name is Lauren Goodrich, and I’m the senior Eurasia analyst here at Stratfor. I’m joined by Sim Tack, our military analyst, and today we’re going to […]
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(US Department of Defense – June 21, 2015) Presenter: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASHTON CARTER: So the purpose of this trip, the focus of it, this particular trip to Europe, is NATO. And as to take it from the top again, we’ll be going now to Germany, and talking about — to the German defense minister […]
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So when we hear threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will respond to the West’s improved NATO defenses on Russia’s border, our response is: Bring it on, peewee Stalin!
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Arming Ukraine would only fan the flames of tension between the West and Russia, leading the United States into a conflict it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, want.
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(Office of Congressman John Conyers, Jr. – conyers.house.gov – June 11, 2015) WASHINGTON- Late yesterday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives considered H.R. 2685, the “Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2015.” During consideration of the legislation, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) offered bipartisan amendments to block the training of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary militia “Azov Battalion,” and […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 8, 2015) Diplomacy will be essential to ending the ongoing Ukraine conflict, but more than a year into it the key stakeholders in the crisis lack the political will to compromise with one other and to commit to a peaceful resolution, analysts told The Moscow Times amid reports of fresh fighting […]
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… Petro Poroshenko put Crimea front and center at his third news conference as president today on June 5.
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President Poroshenko claimed today that Russian forces are set to invade Ukraine. But the spark that ignites new fighting may actually prove to be domestic.
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Ukraine will stick to the Minsk II peace agreement, even though Russia might launch a “full-scale” invasion in the eastern Donbas, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during an address to Parliament on June 4 almost a year after he came to power. He was inaugurated on June
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KYIV. June 4 (Interfax) – The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/SMM) has published a separate report concerning the fighting that erupted near the town of Maryinka in the Donetsk region on Wednesday morning. Between 10:00 p.m. on June 2 and 5:30 a.m. on June 3, SMM observers working in the area controlled […]
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Fighting in eastern Ukraine has eased recently, but at least 6,417 people have died in the conflict and abuses that may amount to war crimes continue to be committed by both sides, the United Nations said Monday.
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LUHANSK. June 2 (Interfax) – The intensity of Ukrainian strikes on the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) has grown lately, according to Igor Yashchenko, deputy chief of staff of the LPR militia corps. “The Ukrainian army shelled LPR populated localities 29 times over the past week. We observed twelve attacks by mortars, 13 by grenade launchers, two […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 12, Issue 95 – Pavel Felgenhauer – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – April 21, 2015) Summer is the best time for major offensive military action in the Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk provinces) of eastern Ukraine. In the spring and autumn, long periods of bad weather turn unpaved roads and plains into a mud quagmire (Rasputitsa), […]
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(Interfax – DONETSK, May 26, 2015) The Ukrainian army has deployed a Tochka-U tactical missile system in the Kramatorsk area, Eduard Basurin, a senior official of the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has said. “A Tochka-U system has been tracked down near the town of Kramatorsk. It is possible that the Ukrainian authorities may stage an […]
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The armed forces of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics” (“LNR” and “DNR”) have accumulated significant reserves of heavy weapons. According to deputy commander of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Col. Valentyn Fedychev, as of 8 April 2015 Russia’s hybrid army in Donbas has 700 tanks, over 1 100 ACVs, 600 artillery systems, and 380 MRLS, as reported by news.liga.net
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Where Ukraine really needs U.S. help is in the area of domestic security. In other words, it needs to fight the kind of war Russia has started – especially now, since the hot conflict in its eastern part has become stationary and the war is entering a clandestine phase.
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