Ukraine War Update - 20 March 2015

Friday, March 20, 2015  7:46 AM PDT

Situation in ATO area escalated - Lysenko

   KIEV, March 20 (Ukrinform). --- The situation in the area of the anti-terrorist operation is exacerbated due to the militants' carrying out four tanks attacks and shelling with BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket systems, used for the first time over the last month.

   Spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kiev on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

   "The situation in the ATO area tends to exacerbate. Militants conduct armed provocations along the contact line. In particular, yesterday, Ukrainian positions were fired at with tanks four times, and near the village of Sokolnyky, Ukrainian troops for the first time over the last month came under shelling with MLRS BM-21 Grad," he said.

   According to him, after midnight the enemy violated the ceasefire along the contact line five times.

   In addition, there are constant deliveries of a large number of Russian weapons and military equipment to militants through a border areas temporary uncontrolled by Ukraine.

   Lysenko also said that there was a clash between Ukrainian forces and militants near the village of Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukrainian positions were also fired at with mortars and anti-aircraft installations.

Friday, March 20, 2015  7:45 AM PDT

Ukraine gathers evidence for ICC claim on Putin's, Shoigu's statements on Crimea – Petrenko

   (Interfax) --- Ukraine has gathered evidence to file a second lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu on Crimea, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.

   "[We fulfilled] the orders given directly to the Justice Ministry regarding passing on the evidence we have collected on both Crimea and the east [of Ukraine] as part of the cases of the European Court of Human Rights to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine [PGO]. In addition, [we] examined what citizen Putin and citizen Shoigu said in the movie on Crimea's annexation which broadcasted in Russia. We have gathered these materials and we're passing them on to the PGO, as this is the agency that will communicate with the international prosecutors of the court," Petrenko said at a briefing in Kiev on Wednesday.

   He specified that he had been talking about the ICC in The Hague.

   Petrenko said that in February 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on filing a lawsuit with the ICC on the crimes that had been committed by Russian officials, troops, and persons supported by Russia in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.

   Petrenko added that the first lawsuit was "on crimes committed by [former president Viktor] Yanukovych and his team."

   According to him, it was filed in 2014 and international prosecutors have already got in touch with the PGO.

Friday, March 20, 2015  6:44 AM PDT

Polish parliament ratifies agreement on military brigade with Ukraine, Lithuania

   KIEV, March 20 (Ukrinform). --- The Polish parliament on Friday has voted to ratify the agreement to establish a joint Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian international military brigade, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

   408 MPs voted for establishment of the international military unit in the lower house of the Polish parliament, five members voted against and four abstained.

   The agreement should be approved now by the Senate of Poland, and then it will be signed by the president.

Friday, March 20, 2015  6:01 AM PDT

Heavy artillery shelling picking up, army spokesman

   (Zik) --- Military provocations by the Russian troops and rebels have increased in intensity. The enemy is using mortars, tanks and Grad missile batteries, the official says March 19.

   Near Sokilnyky (Bakhmut road) Ukraine army positions were shelled four times on March 18. The enemy used Grad missile batteries first in the past month.

   There was mortar shelling of Ukraine army outposts in the Stanytsia Luhanska area, he confirmed.

Friday, March 20, 2015  5:50 AM PDT

Kyrgyz Mercenary Details Alleged Russian Military Role In Ukraine

   BISHKEK(RFE/RL) --- In August 2014, Manas Mambetov, a senior lieutenant in the Kyrgyz Army reserves, arrived in eastern Ukraine on a moral quest to fight "fascists." A week ago, he returned home, accompanying the sealed coffins of two fellow Kyrgyz soldiers and disillusioned by his experience.

   Mambetov, who asked that his real name not be used, says he fought with regular Russian military personnel around Luhansk.

   "These aren't conscript soldiers," Mambetov says, adding that they were "battle-ready units" who fought in the wars in Chechnya and in Georgia's separatist South Ossetia region.

   "Most of them are contract soldiers. From time to time, they are sent in and then pulled out again. But they leave without their heavy equipment. While they are there, they train the separatists, insurgents, leave them their weapons, and return."

   European and U.S. leaders and NATO officials have said there are thousands of Russian military troops fighting in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies the accusation, saying the fighters there are locals and volunteers from across the former Soviet Union.

   Mambetov, whose story could not be independently confirmed, says he was one such volunteer. "I was watching television -- Channel One, RTR, and others," he tells RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, referring to Russia's main state-run channels. "It was symbolic for me because my grandfather was killed in the war in 1941. My moral principles were guiding me. The television channels were showing swastikas, fascists raising their heads there, Nazis."

   But after he arrived in Ukraine's Luhansk region, Mambetov found a different situation. "I thought that there were fascists there," he says, "but I didn't see any. We fought against the regular Ukrainian Army. They had some questionable elements -- the Right Sector battalion and the Donbas battalions, which are composed of volunteers, ultranationalists. Such types are everywhere. But I didn't see any fascists."

   "I had one motive and it wasn't supported by anything, he adds. "It turned out that everything was agitation, propaganda. This was really offensive to me."

   "I fell for their story," he adds.

   Mambetov says he made his way in August 2014 from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to the southern Russian city of Rostov-On-Don, from where he crossed into Ukraine at the Izvarino border checkpoint. After five days during which his military-service and other documents were checked, he was sent to a reconnaissance unit commanded by a man from the Russian city of Kaliningrad using the nom de guerre Che Guevara. He was paid $1,500 a month, with bonuses for destroyed tanks and other heavy equipment.

   He says it was widely accepted there that the separatist forces are completely controlled by Russian military advisers. Separatist fighters believed that Viktor Penner, economic adviser to Luhansk separatist head Igor Plotnitsky, was in direct contact with Kremlin presidential adviser Vladislav Surkov.

   Moreover, the forces in Luhansk are riven by infighting, with many units refusing to obey orders from Plotnitsky. Mambetov says he participated in a punitive action against one recalcitrant unit in which 17 men were killed.

   In recent months, Mambetov says, the separatist forces have been increasingly augmented by Russian troops and equipment. Heavy weapons are brought in from Russia under cover of darkness and stockpiled in warehouses that have been cleared for that purpose.

   In particular, he says, the Russians have brought in howitzers in recent months, "enough for a whole division."

   "The old miners aren't around anymore," he says, adding that there are fewer volunteers like himself as well. "Now they are being replaced by regular forces. Their mission is to hold on -- not to surrender any positions under all circumstances."

   Mambetov says he stopped receiving his salary in December.

   Many of the most devoted separatists feel that Moscow has abandoned them by not recognizing the region as it did with Crimea, Mambetov says.

   He says these people will not accept "special status" for the Donbas within Ukraine, as stipulated in the February peace agreement negotiated in Minsk, for fear of reprisals by the Ukrainian security forces. As a result, many are already leaving and the ones that remain feel "they have to fight to the end -- there is no other choice."

Friday, March 20, 2015  4:49 AM PDT

Terrorists have committed more than a dozen attacks on the Ukrainian troops’ positions in Sector ‘M’. One soldier was wounded - Mariupol defense HQ

   (Censor.NET) --- Russian-terrorist groups grossly violated the Minsk accords several times over the past day.

   Censor.NET reports citing the Headquarters of the territorial defense of Mariupol press service.

   "The enemy committed strikes on the Ukrainian troops' positions from weapons, which had to be withdrawn from the demarcation line to the distance of at least 25 kilometers yet in early March, namely from 120 mm mortars," the statement reads.

   It is noted that the enemy also committed 10 attacks on the ATO forces' positions in the village of Shyrokyne using small arms, grenade launchers, and mortars. Snipers also participated in these assaults. The positions near the village of Chermalyk were also attacked at random. The fire was conducted from small arms and grenade launchers. Anti-tank guided missiles were also used.

• Shyrokyne village was shelled from 82 mm mortars at 8.20 - 8.30 a.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from small arms at 9.15 - 9.25 a.m.
• Chermalyk village was attacked using small arms, grenade launchers, and anti-tank guided missiles at 12.47 - 12.59 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from small arms at 1.25 - 1.35 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from small arms at 2.00 - 3.35 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from heavy machine gun at 3.45 - 4.05 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was shelled from 120 mm mortars at 5.15 - 6.00 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was shelled from 120 mm mortars at 6.15 - 7.00 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from small arms at 9.25 - 9.33 p.m.
• Shyrokyne village was fired at from small arms and grenade launchers at 9.55 - 10.05 p.m.
• Positions in Shyrokyne village were attacked by sniper at 1.35 - 2.30 a.m.
• At the same time, the headquarters said that one soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was wounded tonight.
• The reconnaissance flights of the Russian UAVs have not been recorded.

   "Analyzing the behavior of occupants, one may assume that the attacks are mostly provocative - the enemy attempts to instigate the ATO forces to open fire in response from heavy weapons to accuse Ukrainian side in disruption of Minsk cease-fire deal. The aggressor is currently not committing offensive in the Sector 'M'. The ATO forces are in their positions and ready for any development. They have all the necessary means. The intelligence tracks the movement of the enemy forces in the Sector, informing the command of the sector regularly," the Headquarters of the territorial defense of Mariupol press-center added.

Friday, March 20, 2015  4:48 AM PDT

No one killed yesterday, three Ukrainian soldiers wounded - ATO speaker

   (Censor.NET) --- Three Ukrainian servicemen were wounded in the ATO area in the Donbas yesterday.

   ATO speaker Andrii Lysenko announced at a press briefing, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.

   "No one killed yesterday, three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded," he said.

Friday, March 20, 2015  2:17 AM PDT

Terrorists shelled Ukrainian troops’ positions from weapons, which had to be withdrawn yet in early March - ATO press center

   (Censor.NET) --- The Russian-terrorist forces once again grossly violated Minsk cease-fire deal at night of March 20.

   Censor.NET reports citing the ATO press center.

   According to the headquarters, the enemy committed strikes on the Ukrainian troops' positions from weapons, which had to be withdrawn from the demarcation line to the distance of at least 25 kilometers yet in early March.

   "Our strongholds at the Donetsk front near Krasnohorivka and Pisky were shelled from 120 mm mortars. The resumption of the terrorists' provocative attacks this night was also recorded at the Luhansk direction: the enemy forces used BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers against the ATO troops' positions near the village of Sokilnyky at 09.35 p.m. In addition, the criminals attacked Stanytsia Luhanska and Sokilnyky villages using small arms and grenade launchers. The criminals also hit our checkpoint near the village of Donetske from 120 millimeter mortar at 09.45 p.m," the statement reads.

   It is also noted that Shyrokyne village at Mariupol direction was fired at from small arms and grenade launchers three times through the night.

   There were no armed provocations recorded near Artemivsk.

   "The terrorists used weapon ten times from 8 p.m. to midnight March 19. Five more cases of truce violation were recorded from midnight to 7:00 a.m. March 20," the press center added.

Thursday, March 19, 2015  13:56 PDT

Russia convened a closed meeting of UN Security Council, accusing Ukraine of disrupting the Minsk agreements

   (Censor.NET) --- The UN Security Council meeting has begun at the initiative of Moscow. Russia declared failure of Minsk arrangements in Ukraine and is trying to prove to the world that Kiev violated the Minsk Agreement.

   According to Censor.NET citing NV, this was stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry, citing Speaker of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN Alexei Zaitsev. "The UN Security Council at the initiative of Russia behind closed doors is discussing the non-implementation of the Set of Measures to implement the Minsk agreements of Feb. 12," he explained.

   In addition, within an hour the UN Security Council members will hold an informal meeting on Crimea with the participation of the Verkhovna Rada deputy, former leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzhemilev. Russia said it would not participate in it.

   Earlier, Moscow stated that decisions of the Ukrainian Parliament on the special status of Donbass, which comply with the Minsk Agreement grossly violated and changed the agreement with the terrorists.