Russian-backed fighters leave recently occupied village

Russian-backed fighters left the village of Kominternove in the Donetsk region on Dec. 24, which they occupied on Dec. 22, the Anti-Terrorist Operation press center reported on its Facebook page that day. Russian-backed fighters attacked Ukrainian forces twice and fired upon them 35 times in the 24 hours leading up to the morning of Dec. 25, the press center reported. A group of 30 fighters, backed by mortars, attempted to break through a Ukrainian defense near Mayorsk in the Donetsk region, prompting a two-hour battle after which the attackers suffered losses and retreated, the report said. A similar attempt was made outside of Maryinka in the Donetsk region, also resulting in loss and retreat.

The Ukrainian government condemned recent violations of the cease-fire regime by the Russian government and its fighters in Ukraine, who could decide to escalate the conflict, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a Dec. 24 statement. Just in the last 24 hours, these fighters employed their arms 51 times, including the prohibited Grad rapid-fire rocket systems, the statement said. “The consistent rise in the number of violations by Russia and its fighters in recent months – with the use of heavy artillery that was supposed to be removed – demonstrates the deliberate ruining of delicate elements of stability by the occupation forces and their readiness to escalation at any moment,” the statement said. The situation can’t be stabilized without a cease-fire, removal of Russian soldiers and OSCE access to the occupied territories, the statement said, also calling for Russia to adhere to the Minsk accords.

Zenon Zawada: The threat of the conflict escalating has always lingered and will continue to exist throughout the next year, with the aim being to create news headlines, affect public opinion in the West and influence decisions made at the international level, particularly during negotiations. At the same time, we don’t see expanding the occupied territory as a strategic goal for Russia. Its main goal will be to establish the special legal status in the occupied territory, which it can use as a platform to destabilize Ukraine. Although the EU has urged the Ukrainian government to create this special status, and although the Ukrainian president expressed his intent in doing so, the Ukrainian public is mostly against creating this status, which will be among the biggest political battles in the first quarter of 2016. The various questions over the Donbas special status have a strong potential to destabilize the domestic situation, which the Russians will be eager to exploit.