Ukraine War Update - 19 May 2015

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  7:10 AM PDT

Commanding General of US Army Europe arrived in Kiev for talks on cooperation in defense sphere

   The Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges arrived to Ukraine and will have a number of bilateral meetings with his Ukrainian colleagues in order to discuss the relations of both countries in the sphere of security and defense.

   This was announced by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Censor.NET reports with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
   The Commanding General will also hold a press conference in Kiev on Tuesday.
   In 2012-2014, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges was Commander at NATO Allied Land Command.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  7:08 AM PDT

Russian military journalist: Captured Russian soldiers likely to be exchanged

   (UNIAN) --- Two Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian military in the Donbas conflict zone on May 16 are likely to be exchanged, Russian military journalist Arkadiy Babchenko wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

   "Now, this is necessary for both parties. Ukraine wants to show that the Russian military are involved in the war. Russia doesn't want to lose face. But this will happen only because of the hype," Babchenko said.

   According to Babchenko, more such incidents are not in the interests of either Russia or Ukraine.

   "However, if Russia is not involved in the war, as it constantly claims now, and the Russian military are coming to Ukraine as vacationers, volunteers, or are absent without leave, or are dismissed the day before they are captured – they are not servicemen... and no conventions apply to them. They are terrorists," he said.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015  7:08 AM PDT

Estonian MEP regrets that some EU states pay less attention to Ukraine

   (Interfax) --- Estonia MEP and former Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, who visited Ukraine last week as part of a European Parliament delegation, thinks that EU member states should do more to support Ukraine politically.

   The current regrettable situation is that some EU countries stopped thinking that the military conflict in Ukraine was relevant, they keep on paying less attention to the needs of this country, he said on Estonian Radio 4.

   Paet said that ten out of the 28 EU countries have failed to ratify the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in time for the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga on May 21-22.

   He said there's no hope for a simplified visa regime between Ukraine and the EU.

   In addition, Paet said that without comprehensive international aid, Ukraine won't manage its serious economic problems.

   Ukraine needs aid worth about EUR 25 billion, he added.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  7:03 AM PDT

NATO Secretary General tells Lavrov that Russia shall withdraw from Ukraine and end support to militants

   (Censor.NET) --- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday he had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Russia must withdraw all troops and heavy weapons from Ukraine and end its support for separatists.

   The western military alliance's chief added that he had informed Lavrov, after a meeting in Brussels, that he was concerned about the large number of military exercises carried out by Russia at short notice, Censor.NET reports citing Reuters.

   "We also discussed the need for transparency, especially when we have an increased military presence along our borders... for NATO it is important to do whatever we can to avoid that incidents are spiraling out of control," he told reporters.

   NATO has repeatedly criticized Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine conflict and demanded it fully implement a Ukraine ceasefire agreement. Russia denies providing any troops or arms to support rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  7:03 AM PDT

"3rd brigade of special forces from Togliatti is deployed in Luhansk" - SBU posted video of interrogation of the two captured GRU officers.

   (Censor.NET) --- Security Service of Ukraine posted a video (with English subtitles) showing Russian special forces officers, who were captured near Shchastia a few days ago, being interrogated.

As reported by Censor.NET, the Russian military tell about composition of their brigade, which is deployed in Ukraine illegally and is fighting against the Ukrainian army. Captain Yerofeyev and Sergeant Aleksandrov also disclosed the details of their last combat engagement.

The video below is interrogation of Russia's GRU Captain Yerofeyev.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  6:42 AM PDT

Russian terrorists active all along the front – Colonel Lysenko

   (UTR.TV) --- Over the last 24 hours, 10 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded, mainly during the fight near Troitske. No one was killed.

   According to the President’s Administration spokesman for Anti-terrorist operation questions Andriy Lysenko, besides artillery and tank attacks on our positions in the area of Donetsk airport from enemy’s side, mercenaries were showing activeity near the village of Hranitne and north of Avdiivka, where the ceasefire regime was not being violated often. During the fight near Troitske, border guards were engaged in a fight with subversive group. Two mercenaries were killed, the rest retreated. Mercenaries left the grenade launcher and 5 TNT blocks with detonator. The most stable situation was on Luhansk direction, where mercenaries used only small arms in the area of Bakhmutka road, Zolote, Popasna and Shchastia.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  6:29 AM PDT

President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska to meet with Ukrainian authorities

   (UTR.TV) --- The President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska will visit Kiev on May 20.

   During the visit, Kiska will hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. According to the parliament's press service, in the second half of the day Kiska will also meet with the Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Hroysman. To remind, in the beginning of April, Andrej Kiska met with Russian Foreign Minsiter Sergey Lavrov in Bratislava. During the meeting the President of Slovakia stated that Russia’s annexation of Crimea violated the principles of international law.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  4:54 AM PDT

Shyrokyne and area of Donetsk airport remain the hottest points – Tymchuk

   (UTR.TV) --- The Russian-backed militants continue to use heavy infantry weapons and artillery systems to attack positions of Ukrainian troops and civilians in the east of Ukraine.

   In Mariupol seaside direction, militants shelled positions of Ukrainian military near Shyrokyne from several 82-mm mortars of “Vasyliok” type. The same type of weapons was used by militants to shell positions of Ukrainian forces in the area of Opytne and Vodiane settlements, “Information Resistance” group leader Dmytro Tymchuk informed. The enemy used heavy mortars against Ukrainian forces in the area of Maiorske and Avdiyivka settlements. In addition, near the settlements of Pisky, Krasnohorivka and Butivka mine, the militants used automatic grenade launchers of “Plamia” type and “Kord” heavy machine guns. The mercenaries have concentrated their fire groups mostly in Artemivsk direction. Meanwhile, the saboteurs became active near the Shchastia and Stanytsia Luhanska settlements. According to the Ukraine’s military headquarters, in this area the engineering units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine together with builders are erecting additional defensive system - earth-and-timber emplacement and mined dugouts.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015  3:37 AM PDT

Ukrainian Foreign Minister to visit the Czech Republic today

   (UTR.TV) --- Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin is going to meet his Czech colleague Lubom Zaoralek and a chairman of lower house of Czech parliament Jan Gamachek today.

   The main topic of negotiations in Prague is an Association agreement between Ukraine and the EU. They are also going to discuss the situation in Ukraine, further Eastern Partnership summit in Riga and relations between Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Monday, May 18, 2015  11:26 AM PDT

Russia urgently withdrawing its paratroopers from Donbas

   (Zik) --- Following the capture by Ukraine army of 2 GRU special forces officers in Donbas May 17, Russia general staff ordered immediate evacuation of the 3rd Brigade troopers back to Togliatti from Bryanka, Luhansk oblast, UNIAN reports May 18, citing Novoe vremya.

   The plane for the evacuation has arrived in Millerovo, Russia.

   The evacuation was ordered immediately after the Ukraine army demonstrated irrefutable facts of the presence of paratroopers in Donbas.

   “In so doing, Russia wants to hide the fact of the presence of its troops in Ukraine and their terrorist activities against the Ukrainian army,” Ukraine defense ministry says in a statement.

   The Russians were interrogated and admitted to carrying out special assignments in Donbas.

   During their capture, they killed one and wounded three Ukrainian servicemen.

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Yesterday there was no Ukraine War Update now I could say any number of excuses for this but the simple fact is it was a holiday in Canada and I was out all day. I'm very sorry and will be posting one for the 18 May later on today.  Once again I'm sorry to my readers