UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES OPEN HEAVY ARTILLERY FIRE ON DPR FORCES IN REGION OF DONBASS

Illustrative image: Reuters/Marko Djurica

The Armed Forces of Ukraine reactivated in Donetsk by opening fire at Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) army positions and towns near the front on November 5, according to Anna-news. Two children and one adult were injured, one child killed. A high number of civilians was evacuated.

82mm and 120mm mortars, 122mm and 152mm howitzers, and BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers are reported to have been used. “2126 shots have been fired by Armed Forces of Ukraine at Donetsk People’s Republic in 24 hours,” DPR representative in the Joint Control and Coordination Center, Ruslan Yakubov, said.

DPR forces have retaliated, destroying two howitzer batteries, according to DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko. He also added that Ukraine may have attacked because of a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam this week.

The north of Donetsk and 22 towns near the front were caught in the fire. Eight houses and a car were damaged. Donetsk water purification installation was also damaged due to the attack. One adult was injured. Three children were heavily injured while playing in the playground, with one dying in a hospital. Thousands of civilians were evacuated from Donetsk.

DPR’s command stated that the reason for escalation in Donbass is possibly connected with Ukrainian forces trying to cover up the real reason behind the Opitniy munition depots explosions, reported to have happened on the day of the attack, according to DPR’s operative commander deputy Eduard Basurin.

“We do not rule out the escalation may be due to an attempt of the Ukrainian forces to conceal the real reason behind the Opitniy munition depots going up in flames, which are the overloading the depots with ammo, poor storage conditions of explosives and violations of the storage norms,” Basurin said.

Ukrainian forces allegedly tried to provoke return fire, so that it can be blamed for “their own mistakes resulting in them losing their ammunition near Opitniy,” he said.

A vice admiral of Ukrainian Naval Forces Igor Voronchenko has established a new award named the Iron Cross. It is dedicated to 25th anniversary of the Ukrainian Navy. The weird thing is that the medal is reported to has been “made out of the weaponry that our enemies used in battle against [Ukrainian] navy forces,” and the report did not elaborate which battles exactly “provided” the weaponry in question.

Click to see the full-size image

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

Search This Blog