Ukraine War Update - 10 March 2015

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  8:49 AM PDT

U.S. Says More Russian Tanks Have Crossed Into Ukraine

   (RFE/RL) --- The United States says Russia has transferred more weapons to separatists in recent days despite an ongoing cease-fire.

   "We can confirm new transfers of Russian tanks, armoured vehicles, heavy artillery, and rocket equipment over the border to the separatists in eastern Ukraine," said Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on March 10.

   Moscow has continually denied sending weapons and troops to the pro-Russian separatists.

   Nuland said that the United States had begun initial conversations with European allies on more sanctions should Russia fail to implement the cease-fire or take more land.

   The cease-fire that took effect on February 15 does not give Ukraine control over its border until a decentralization and reform process becomes law.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  7:17 AM PDT

Self-declared republics withdrawl of heavy weapons a sham – Klimkin

   (Interfax) --- Representatives of the 'Donetsk People's Republic' and 'Luhansk People's Republic' are preventing OSCE SMM monitors from observing the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line in Donbas, illustrating that the process is a sham, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.

   "Representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk constantly won't admit representatives of the OSCE representatives to the monitoring of the process of the withdrawal [of heavy weaponry], thus transforming an essential part of this process into a sham," he said at a briefing after the National Security and Defense Council's military board met in Kiev on Tuesday.

   Klimkin said that during the meeting representatives of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had discussed their clear and transparent implementation of the plan to withdraw heavy weaponry and how they "adhere by Minsk Agreements according to international law and OSCE requirements."

   Klimkin said that Ukraine completely adhered to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

   "Besides, this process should be fulfilled under the full control of the OSCE, each step must be estimated by the international community since neither Ukraine nor the international community has ever aspired to profane the implementation of the Minsk agreements," he said, adding that the Ukraine had implemented the agreements "very neatly and transparently."

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  6:33 AM PDT

Ukraine to return artillery to frontline if militants attack – ATO spokesman

   (Interfax) --- The Ukrainian army will bring all its withdrawn artillery back to the frontline if pro-Russian militants mount an offense on their positions.

   "Our frontline units still have heavy infantry weapons which can stop an offensive of heavy armaments so that they are not endangered. If the militants move forward, all the artillery guns will be brought back to the frontline," spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) Andriy Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kiev on Tuesday.

   In his words, the enemy is only simulating the pullout of its weapons.

   "In fact, they are relocating their hardware, coaching their soldiers, regrouping, and forming a main attack force," Lysenko said.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  6:31 AM PDT

First meeting of Ukraine's 'war cabinet' held

   KIEV, March 10 (Ukrinform). --- The progress of implementation of the Minsk agreements has been discussed during the first meeting of the War Cabinet, chaired by President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

   This has been stated by foreign minister Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin following the War Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Administration, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

   "The meeting, chaired by the President of Ukraine, has just finished. The main item on the agenda of the meeting was the progress of implementation of the Minsk agreements. The General Staff stressed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine performed the Minsk agreements in accordance with the principles of international law and the conditions of the OSCE. We do it in a clear and transparent way," the minister said.

   According to Klimkin, during the meeting it was noted that representatives of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" did not allow the monitors of the OSCE Monitoring Mission to observe the process of withdrawal of heavy weapons.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  6:20 AM PDT

March 9, separatists attacked Ukraine army positions 31 times.

   (Zik) --- The enemy attacked Ukraine army positions 31 times on March 9, including 5 times using artillery. The army spokesman said, Interfax-Ukrayina reports March 10.

   Most enemy attacks happened in the Mariupol area (Shyrokine), Donetsk airport (Pisky, Avdijyvka, Doslidne), Artemivsk area (Troitske) and Bakhmut road area. 

   The enemy attack on Shyrokine started at 9.30 and continued to 1 a.m. on March 10. Ukraine troops destroyed one tank an ammo depot and killed several troops.

   Ukraine border guards registered the flights of 11 enemy drones.

   The Russian also used SU24MP reconnaissance jet over oblasts Vongograd, Rostov and over the Azov Sea, the spokesman said.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  5:59 AM PDT

Fight in Shyrokyne area continued for almost a day. Militants’ attack repulsed, eight Ukrainian soldiers wounded

   (Censor.NET) --- The terrorists had been storming the Ukrainian military positions near Mariupol all day yesterday.

   This was stated at a briefing of the General Staff acting speaker Vladyslav Selezniov, Censor.NET reports citing Liga.

   "The situation was restless in the south of the ATO area - two attacks on the positions of Ukrainian soldiers were recorded near the village of Shyrokyno, and the fighting continued from 9:30 a.m. to about 1:00 a.m. The militants with forces up to 30 troops, backed by a tank tried to attack our positions. The forces of anti-terrorist operation withstood the that fight and repelled the attack," he said.

   According to him, ATO units near Shyrokyne continue to deter enemy aggression at certain areas and borders.

   According to press officer of sector M Oleh Sushynskyi, during the attack eight Ukrainian soldiers were wounded, Mariupol's website 0629 reports.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  5:43 AM PDT

Due to regrouping, Donbas rebels created several powerful attack groups – expert

   (Zik) --- Instead of withdrawing heavy artillery from the touchline, the enemy created several powerful attack groups, military expert Dmytro Tymchuk writes in Facebook March 10.

   According to the expert, the enemy created a northern attack group in Avdijyvka area including 24 tanks, 35 APCs, two groups of 25-30 trucks and total 1,500 troops.

   In the Horlivka area, Donbas separatists and Russians have 35 tanks, 26-28 APCs. This group also includes AA missiles systems Strila-10M and OSA-AKM.

   The northern group artillery includes 45 large-caliber guns, self-propelled guns and 24 Grad missile batteries as well as Uragan and Smerch missile batteries.

   Most of the group’s artillery is withdrawn from the touchline, with 30% of guns and missile batteries remaining close to the touchline.

   The second attack group is Prymorska in the Mariupol zone deployed to the north and north-west of Novoazovsk.

   This group has 2,500 troops divided into smaller groups of rebels and Russian troops. It includes 25 tanks, 20 APCs, a large number of trucks (up to 60) and tugs.

   It is permanently reinforced from Russia, with 10-12 armour and trucks crossing the border every day.

   The group’s artillery includes 14 missile batteries, 32 guns and self-propelled guns and a large number of mortars.

   The third group, the Luhansk one, is deployed near Shchastya, Stanytsia Luhanska.

   The Luhansk group is made up of three smaller groups, one aimed at Shchastya, another at Tryohizbenka and the third at Stanytsia Luhanska.

   This group includes 5,000-5,500 troops, 48 tanks, 90 APCs and 125 trucks and tugs.

   The Luhansk group artillery includes 50 guns and self-propelled guns, and 36 Grads, Dmytro Tymchuk says.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  5:118 AM PDT

No deaths. Nine Ukrainian soldiers wounded over the past 24 hours - ATO speaker

   (Censor.NET) --- 9 servicemen were wounded in the course of the anti-terrorist operation on March 9.

   This was at a briefing of the ATO speaker Andrii Lysenko, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrainian News.

   "Over the past day as a result of clashes no Ukrainian soldiers were killed, and according to updated data, nine were wounded," Lysenko said.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  3:48 AM PDT

Ukraine Says Rebels Violating Cease-Fire

   (RFE/RL) --- Ukrainian officials say Russian-backed separatists have violated a cease-fire by shelling government positions in eastern Ukraine, including attacks near the southeastern port of Mariupol.

   Ukrainian army spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said in Kiev on March 10 that in the past day separatists had fired upon the Donetsk region towns of Pisky, Vodyane, Tonenke, Opytne, Avdiivka, Troitsk, Luhanske, and near the Dutivska mine.

   In the Luhansk region, he said rebels attacked army positions in Sokolnyky and Krymske.

   Ukrainian officials said rebels attacked the village of Shyrokyne, near Mariupol, for several hours late on March 9 with tanks and mortars but were repelled.

   Rebel attacks near Mariupol have raised concerns that the separatists may seek to seize the Azov Sea port city and push further westward toward Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in March 2014.

   A rebel defense official, Eduard Basurin, accused Ukrainian forces of violating the cease-fire by conducting attacks.

   In Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko said late on March 9 that 64 soldiers had died since the cease-fire -- part of a peace deal agreed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk -- went into effect on February 15.

   He said a total of 1,549 Ukrainian servicemen -- from the armed forces, National Guard, Interior Ministry, border guards, and Security Service -- have been killed since fighting erupted last year when Ukrainian forces began retaking territory held by separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

   The United Nations says more than 6,000 people -- including combatants, civilians, and the 298 passengers and crew of a commercial jet that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July -- have been killed in the conflict since April.

   Poroshenko said on Ukrainian TV on March 9 that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn "the lion's share of its rocket and heavy artillery systems" to positions away from the front-line.

   He said the pro-Russian rebels had withdrawn a "significant amount" of heavy weapons as well.

   Pulling back weapons to create a large buffer zone was a key point of the cease-fire agreement reached on February 12 in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

   As a result of the cease-fire, Poroshenko said Kiev had "managed to halt the offensive drive of the aggressor."

   In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has suggested the West should impose sanctions on Kiev to further implementation of the Minsk deal.

   Speaking on March 10, Lavrov accused Ukraine of reneging on commitments he said it made under Minsk deal, which was brokered by the leaders of Germany and France.

   Lavrov said that "full implementation of the Minsk agreements is essentially being blocked by the Kiev authorities."

   He claimed Kiev has cast doubt on what he said were obligations to organize an amnesty and create "working groups" including rebels to discuss economic, political, and humanitarian issues.

   "I don't know what instruments of pressure on Kiev the Americans and Europeans have," he said. "But maybe [they should] impose their favorite mechanism of sanctions on Kiev in this case."

   The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over its interference in Ukraine and support for the separatists.

   Russia has frequently said sanctions are a flawed and often counterproductive foreign policy tool that is used too frequently by the United States and EU.

   German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on March 10 that a solution to the Ukraine crisis is a long way off.

   He said during a visit to Bulgaria that "the road on which we have been and we are on, is probably the first step for calming down the situation, but we all know that we are still very far from a solution."

   Steinmeier added that Ukraine will need major financial support.

   "And I need to underline again the financial engagement which we will have to Ukraine, given its grave economic situation," he said.

   Steinmeier said the previous day that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the cease-fire in Ukraine, would increase its mission from 500 to 1,000 observers.

   In London, British Foreign-Secretary Philip Hammond said on March 10 that Russia could once again pose the greatest threat to Britain's security.

   Hammond, in a speech to the Royal United Studies Institute (RUSI) think tank, said, "We are in familiar territory for anyone over the age of about 50 with Russia's aggressive behavior a stark reminder it has the potential to pose the single greatest threat to our security." 

   Hammond said the country's spy agencies were stepping up efforts to counter the threat.

   "Hence continuing to gather intelligence on Russia capabilities and intentions will remain a vital part of our intelligence effort for the foreseeable future," he said.

   At the White House, President Barack Obama and European Council President Donald Tusk agreed on March 9 that Brussels and Washington were united in their determination to maintain sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. 

   The United States and Europe have warned Russia that the West could levy additional sanctions if Moscow continues to support the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

   Tusk, however, indicated earlier in a New York Times interview that Europe was not yet ready to tighten current sanctions.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015  2:39 AM PDT

Russia Wants Explanation Of Call For EU Army

   (RFE/RL) --- Russia has asked European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to explain his recent proposal to establish a European Union army.

   "We would like to understand what this idea means because European politicians have already addressed this issue at different levels in the past 30 years. But it is difficult to guess what Juncker meant this time," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov said on March 10.

   Juncker said on March 8 that the EU should create its own army in order to be able to respond to security threats facing the EU's member states and neighbouring countries.

   "A common army among the Europeans would convey to Russia that we are serious about defending the values of the European Union," Juncker told Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

   He said it would also be more cost-effective and help drive the EU toward a common foreign and security policy, and downplayed concerns it might undercut NATO's role.

   However, the idea of an EU army has been rejected in the past.