Russian-backed forces set portion of Luhansk wildfires, army says

At least one section of the wildfires currently
consuming the Luhansk region – measuring 85 hectares – was deliberately set by
Russian-backed forces engaged in military provocations using pyrotechnic tracer
bullets, said on Oct. 1 the press service of the Joint Forces Operation. These
forces violated the ceasefire regime 11 times on Sept. 30, injuring one
Ukrainian soldier, who suffered shrapnel from a grenade. More than 450 soldiers
with the Armed Forces and 10 units of military equipment have been mobilized
throughout the Luhansk region, the army said.

At least 9,300 hectares were burning in the Luhansk
region on Sept. 30, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova reported on her Facebook
page that day, noting that her office has filed criminal charges. About 146
individual fires were identified in the Severodonetsk, Starobilsk,
Stanychno-Luhansk and Novoaydar districts. Three people have died, and another
three were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. Several dozen buildings
were damaged, particularly in the vicinity of Severodonetsk, a city with 108K
residents that is a district center.

The most intense fires are burning along the
separation line between the town of Stanytsia Luhanska to the city of
Severodonetsk, the State Emergency Service reported on Oct. 1. There are six
main sections of the fires, which threaten 22 population centers and have
already destroyed the village of Voronovo. More than 1,000 firefighting personnel
have been deployed, the service said. “Owing to strong wind gusts on the
Luhansk region’s territory, the threat exists of the further spread of forest
fires,” the service said.

Heidi Grau, the OSCE special representative to the
Trilateral Contact Group to resolve the war in Donbas, halted its Sept. 30
meeting after the Russian side was revealed to have conducted unsanctioned
audio and video recordings, the pravda.com.ua news site reported that day,
citing an anonymous source at the talks. The head of the Russian delegation
expressed his desire to publish the recordings of the talks, which are supposed
to be confidential. In response, Grau proposed holding a separate meeting
during which the sides would agree upon a code of behavior and information
policy. She was backed by the Ukrainian delegation, which expressed its
opposition to violations of agreements and international standards of
negotiations.

Zenon Zawada: The
deliberate setting of wildfires, affecting residential areas, would be the latest
war crime committed by the Russian-backed forces in Donbas. If proven, it would
be merely the latest frontline in Russia’s relentless and boundless hybrid war
against the Ukrainian state. Another frontline exposed on Sept. 30 is the
reported attempt by Russians to recruit an employee of the Luhansk state
administration.

All these developments, in addition to the conflict
in the contact group talks, reduce to ashes the Zelensky administration’s claim
of maintaining the most successful ceasefire since the war’s outbreak. Whatever
ceasefire that was achieved has been over for weeks. Now the Russians are
returning to behavior that is as aggressive and egregious as ever.