Ukraine War Update - 17 May 2015

Sunday, May 17, 2015 8:27 AM PDT

Kremlin covering up its military losses in Donbas – Piontkovsky

   (Zik) --- The information about the number of killed and wounded Russian servicemen in Donbas is kept under lock and key by the Kremlin, Russia’s renowned opposition member Andrej Piontkovsky said, speaking on ZIK TV.

   Many Russians are aware that Putin ordered aggression in Donbas. Still, few of them know the number of killed Russian soldiers, Piontkovsky said.

   The Russians are bragging that Crimea was captured without a single shot. They want the same happen to Donbas, he said.

   In the Nemtsov’s report titled “Putin. War” the number of Russian army casualties was underestimated since Nemtsov and his colleagues considered merely the casualties suffered in the Ilovajsk and Debaltseve battles.

   As Russian troops were fighting in other areas, the actual number of their casualties is about 1,000, Piontkovsky believes.

   If the Russian casualties rise, it will be impossible for Putin to hide them – and this will spell a catastrophe for the Kremlin ruler, he says.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 8:06 AM PDT

Kremlin stirring up separatism in Odessa – Tymchuk

   (Zik) --- Russia is poised to provoke civil unrest in other parts of Ukraine, noticeably, in the Odessa oblast, military expert Dmytro Tymchuk writes in Facebook May 17.

   May 16, Tymchuk notes, there was a second conference of the so-called “People’s Council of Bessarabia” on the national and cultural autonomy of Besarabia [tsarist name for the southern province of imperial Russia – Ed.].

   This indicates a new wave of activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine. In unison with the massive offensive in Donbas, the Kremlin will try to form ‘the second front’ in Ukraine’s southern oblasts, Dmytro Tymchuk says. 

   “The presence of TransNistria, Russia’s military enclave nearby, makes this scenario less than fantastic,” Tymchuk says.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 7:48 AM PDT

May 16, three Ukraine army servicemen killed, 17 wounded in Donbas

   (Zik) --- According to the army spokesman, 3 servicemen were killed and 17 wounded on May 16, Ukrayinska Pravda reports May 17.

   “Two servicemen were killed near Svitlodars, one in Shchastya,” he said.

   Two Russian servicemen were taken prisoner by the ‘Aidar’ battalion. They are being interrogated,” he confirmed.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 6:02 AM PDT

Ukrainian border guards clashed with terrorist sabotage group on border with Russia

   (Censor.NET) --- A clash of Ukrainian border guards with a group of unidentified armed men happened at the border near Stanytsia Luhanska yesterday, on May 16.

   Censor.NET reports citing the State Border Service.
   According to the report, the border guards saw an unidentified person in 200m from the state border between Mozhaevka (Russian Federation) and Herasymivka (Ukraine) yesterday. When they tried to arrest him, the law enforcement officers encountered several people in camouflage overalls, who opened fire at them, at a distance of 100 meters from the state border. A fight broke out, as a result of which the sabotage and reconnaissance group was forced to leave the field. The terrorists retreated to the Russian territory.
   However, one of the border guards was wounded by saboteurs' hand grenade shrapnel.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 4:39 AM PDT

Two Russian soldiers arrested near Shchastia – ATO headquarters

   (Censor.NET) --- The ATO headquarters confirmed the fact of detention of two Russian servicemen in the ATO area.

   This was announced by the speaker of the Presidential Administration on ATO matters, Colonel Andrii Lysenko at a traditional briefing, Censor.NET reports.
   "There is information that two Russian soldiers were detained," Lysenko said commenting on the arrest of two employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia by Aidar battalion soldiers.

   According to Lysenko, Special Forces are now questioning the detainees. Earlier volunteer Yurii Kasianov informed that two Russian soldiers involved in a sabotage and intelligence group were caught near Shchastia.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 3:05 AM PDT

Ukrainians informed OSCE on barbaric Dzerzhynsk shelling.

   (Censor.NET) --- The Ukrainian contingent to the Joint Center for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) has informed the OSCE SMM to the Donbas on terrorist shelling of Ukrainian villages and towns.

   Censor.NET informs citing the АТO press center.
   In particular, the Ukrainian contingent drew the international organization's attention to the barbaric terrorist shelling of Dzerzhynsk town (Donetsk region) with mortar shells. Fragments of 82mm and 120mm mortar shells, as well as of 122mm artillery shells were collected by Ukrainian observers after a night of shelling of the private sector in Dzerzhynsk town on the night of May 13. More than 80 cases of shell breaks, as well as damage of many residential and administrative buildings were documented.
   "This case, like many other facts, is an evidence of systematic violations of the Minsk Agreements on withdrawal of heavy weapons with a caliber of over 100mm from the line of collision," the ATO press center stressed.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 2:25 AM PDT

Grads and mortars shelled residential houses in Stanytsia Luhanska

   (Censor.NET) --- The militants shelled Stanytsia Luhanska village with fire arms, mortars, Grads, and grenade launchers starting from 8 p.m. yesterday, May 16.

Press service of the Head of Luhansk Regional State Administration Hennadii Moskal stated, Censor.NET reports.
According to him, the terrorists were firing from the direction of Luhansk city and Prince Ihor monument on the right bank of Siverskyi Donets River. A shell hit a 5-storey residential house, damaging apartments on the 3d, 4th and 5th floors. The i nformation about the victims and other consequences of the attacks is now specified. As a result of shelling, three private houses caught fire.
"Last night clashes between Ukrainian forces and the militants were reported along the demarcation line in Stanytsia Luhanska village. The terrorists were using automatic weapons, grenade launchers, and mortars. It has been calm in the village in the morning. According to preliminary data, no casualties are reported," Moskal wrote.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 1:11 AM PDT

Terrorists fire main guns at Donetsk sector

   (Censor.NET) --- The Russian militants continue to fire at the ATO forces' positions, destroying local infrastructure and killing civilians.

   The enemy uses tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, antiaircraft guns, mortars, grenade launchers, Censor.NET reports citing the ATO press center.

   According to the report, the terrorists have also fired from sniper rifles and small arms. The terrorists fired main guns at the Donetsk sector. Villages of Pisky, Starohnativka, Starohanivka, Hrantine, Opytne, Marinka and the town of Avdiivka were shelled by the militants.
In the Luhansk sector, Stanytsia Luhanska village and Shchastia town were fired from mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns.

   Maiorsk and Popasna villages were fired in the Artemivsk sector. It was relatively quiet in the Mariupol sector. Shyrokyne village was shelled only once last night. The enemy drones were spotted in the direction of Podhorivka-Lyman, Starobilsk-Kuriachivka.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 12:56 AM PDT

Militants shell residential area in town of Zolote

   (UNIAN) --- Pro-Russian militants have shelled the residential districts in the town of Zolote in Luhansk region early on Saturday.

   Monitors from the Ukrainian group of the Joint Center on Control and Coordination of issues related to the ceasefire regime and the stabilization of the situation in Donbas continue recording attacks by illegal armed groups on villages and towns in the east of Ukraine, the anti-terrorist operation's (ATO) press center reported.

   In the early hours on Saturday, May 16, "militants from certain parts of Luhansk region shelled the residential area in the village of Zolote-4 in Popasna district. According to monitors, the militants fired fragmentation grenades five times from a SPG-9 grenade launcher [a Soviet-developed tripod-mounted man-portable, 73mm-calibre recoilless gun]. No casualties have been reported," the report said.

   According to the ATO press center, the nature and disposition of craters from grenades suggest that they were fired from the village of Molodizhne in Luhansk region.

Sunday, May 17, 2015 12:16 AM PDT

Breakaway Donetsk republics face eventual defeat, ex-terrorist leader says

   (Zik) --- Igor Strelkov, a Russian officer who commanded part of Donetsk rebels at the start of the war, was speaker at the conference “Ukrainian crisis and global politics” whose purpose is to work out the ideology of the war in Donbas, Sotsioportal reports May 17.

   “The country fighting without the war ideology is doomed to lose the fight. There is no ideology either in the Donetsk or Luhansk republics, or in Russia,” he said.

   Russia’s declared goals and the implementation of the Minsk agreement will lead to Moscow’s total defeat and the liquidation of Donbas republics, Strelkov said.

   The military and political situation in Donbas will not change in the coming months, Strelkov said, commenting on the likely scenarios for Russia in the region.

   “Donbas will see the continuation of the exhausting war without major results, with the breakaway republics playing the roles of hostages,” the ex-terrorist leader said.