Ukraine War Update - 22 February 2015

Sunday 22 February 2015  7:08 AM PST

SBU prevented two more terrorist attacks in Kharkiv: Terrorists wanted to fire man-portable rocket launcher at civilians.

   (Censor.NET) --- The SBU prevented several terrorist attacks in the city of Kharkiv.

SBU Chairman's adviser Markiian Lubkivskyi wrote on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.
   "As we have already reported, the Security Service of Ukraine detained four persons who may be involved in preparing and committing terrorist crimes in the city of Kharkiv, including explosion, which killed two and injured eight citizens," he writes.
   "I would like to inform you that a series of terrorist attacks on Feb. 22 was prepared in Kharkiv. In particular, the counterintelligence department in cooperation with the Office of the SBU in the Kharkiv region managed to prevent a terrorist act of the Kharkiv Partizans terrorist organization. Four persons were caught while trying to fire PRO-A Shmel man-portable rocket launcher at a club where ATO soldiers and volunteers often gather, as well as at one of the city's shopping malls. Other sabotage and terrorist activities were also planned.

   The withdrawn Smel was produced in Russia. According to the detainees, it was received by the leader of the group in Belgorod (Russia). Due to the explosion and attempts to commit other acts of terrorism, the Security Service of Ukraine announced the highest level of antiterrorism awareness in Kharkiv. Security forces are conducting extern and large-scale counter-terrorism measures in close cooperation," Lubkivskyi writes.

Sunday 22 February 2015  6:01 AM PST

Kharkiv On Security Alert Following Deadly Blast At Peace March

   (RFE/RL) --- Officials in Ukraine say they have detained four Ukrainian citizens in connection with an explosion in the eastern city of Kharkiv that left two dead and 11 injured.

   Police say the people killed in the February 22 explosion were a police officer and a civilian. Four of the wounded were also police officers.

   Oleksandr Turchynov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said a "counterterrorism operation" has been launched in Kharkiv in response to the incident.

   The bomb struck a peace march that was being held to mark the first anniversary of the overthrow of former President Viktor Yanukovych.

   An official with Ukraine's SBU state security service was quoted as saying the four people who were detained "underwent instruction and received weapons" in the Russian city of Belgorod.

   Kiev and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Moscow of direct aid to separatist fighters, including through the supply of weapons, soldiers, instruction, and other equipment. 

   A Kharkiv prosecutor was quoted by Interfax as saying the bomb was "filled with shrapnel." A local SBU official said a similar weapon had been located and disarmed in Kharkiv on February 19.

   Kharkiv is located more than 200 kilometers from the front line.

   "Today is memorial Sunday, but on this day terrorist scum revealed its predatory nature," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Facebook.

   Poroshenko led the march in Kiev, joined by thousands of other participants, as well as the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Georgia, and the European Union. 

   Ukraine's parliament voted to oust Yanukovych on February 22, 2014, after months of protests in Kiev. 

   A month later, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region.

   Armed rebels then took over parts of two regions bordering Russia -- Luhansk and Donetsk -- triggering a conflict that has killed more than 5,600 people.

   A fresh peace plan including a cease-fire and a weapons pullback was signed on February 12. 

   The Ukrainian military says it will not start withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in the conflict with Russian-backed separatists because the rebels have not completely ceased fire.

   Under an agreement brokered by the leaders of Germany and France, government forces and rebels were to cease fire on February 15 and begin pulling back heavy weapons no less than two days later, creating a security zone at least 70 kilometers wide.

   Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh said on February 23 that while hostilities have lessened in recent days after separatist forces took the strategic town of Debaltseve, rebels shelled government troops twice overnight.

   Another spokesman, Vladyslav Seleznyov, said in a televised briefing that because "the positions of Ukrainian servicemen continue to be shelled, there cannot yet be any talk of pulling back weapons." 

   Stelmakh said Ukraine would begin the withdrawal when "the enemy stops firing on our positions." 

   Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the rebels were pressing on with attacks on government forces nearby the city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. 

   With 500,000 people, Mariupol is the biggest government-held city in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

   Its capture could allow the rebels to create a land bridge from Russia to Crimea.

   Lysenko said a military train carrying 60 armoured vehicles including tanks had arrived in the town of Amvrosiivka from Russia on February 21. 

   A convoy of military equipment had later crossed the border near Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol.

   He said fighting was in progress at the village of Shyrokyne, east of Mariupol.

   "Our soldiers are holding their positions," Lysenko said, adding that there had been a total of 44 attacks by separatists across the conflict zone in the past 24 hours.

Sunday 22 February 2015  5:26 AM PST

Anti-terrorist operation started in Kharkiv: four participants on the explosion detained

   (Censor.NET) --- Due to the terrorist act in Kharkiv which killed one police officer and one activist, and wounded five police officers and four activists, the highest level of terrorist threat was introduced in the city and the anti-terrorist operation began.

   This was announced by the NSDC secretary Oleksandr Turchynov, Censor.NET reports citng the NSDC press service.

   According to Turchynov, a controlled explosive device of directed action has been used during a peaceful march commemorating those killed in Euromaidan a year ago.
   The NSDC secretary announced that the Security Service of Ukraine together with the Interior Ministry launched the anti-terrorist operation, "in the course of which four participants of the explosion were detained, and weapons, including a grenade launcher, were seized."

   "The anti-terrorist operation goes on," he said adding that, according to SBU information, the group that committed the terrorist act was trained in Belgorod, Russia. "This is another evidence that the terrorist campaign conducted in Ukraine has the same commissioners and organizers as the one in the east of our country," the NSDC secretary noted.

Sunday 22 February 2015  3:36 AM PST

European leaders who arrived to Kiev for Dignity march examine captured military equipment from Russia.

   (Censor.NET) --- President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska, and President of the European Council Donald Tusk have already arrived to Kiev to participate in Dignity march.

   The president's press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko wrote on Twitter, as well as Samopomich MP Hanna Hopko on Facebook, Censor.NET informs. Dignity march will take place today in Kiev commemorating those killed on Maidan square last winter.

Sunday 22 February 2015  3:19 AM PST

One soldier killed and three wounded over past 24 hours

   (Censor.NET) --- One Ukrainian soldier was killed and three were wounded in the ATO zone on Feb. 21.

   Censor.NET reports citing Andrii Lysenko, speaker of the NSDC Information Analysis Center.
   "One soldier died and three more were wounded," he said.

   According to Lysenko, the militants shelled the ATO forces positions 44 times on Feb. 21.

   Earlier it was reported that no troops died and 40 Ukrainian soldiers were injured in the ATO zone on Feb. 20.

Sunday 22 February 2015  2:26 AM PST

Residential area took a direct hit as terrorists shelled Avdiivka all night long

   (Censor.NET) --- Direct hits at residential houses and infrastructure objects are reported in the town of Avdiivka.

   Head of the Donetsk Department of the Interior Ministry Viacheslav Abroskin writes on Facebook, Censor.NET informs.
   "Avdiivka. Terrorist artillery shelling lasted all night long. Innocent civilian people are dying. Direct hits at residential houses and infrastructure are reported," Abroskin writes.
   He also gave some information about the people killed in yesterday's shelling of Avdiivka.
   It was reported earlier that Brevno cafeteria took a direct hit yeserday at 11:45 a.m., killing three civilian men.
   Raspolov Mykhailo, born 1983, an employee of the cafe;
   Tereshchenko Victor, born 1976, a visitor;
   Hanykin Andrii Ivanovich, born 1975, a visitor.
   "The terrorists deliberately destroy our cities and kill civilians," Abroskin added.

Sunday 22 February 2015  1:30 AM PST

One Azov soldier killed and five wounded in two clashes with terrorists in Shyrokyne village

   (Censor.NET) --- The terrorists attacked the village of Shyrokyne in the Mariupol sector seven times over the past 24 hours.

   The terrorists shelled the village by small arms, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and tanks. Two clashes happenned on the streets of the village, Censor.NET reports citing the Azov battalion's page on Facebook.
   As a result of the clashes, one soldier died and five more were injured. In addition, terrorists' aerial reconnaissance in the Mariupol sector became more active. 11 'DPR" drones were spotted.