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Russian tanks enter Donetsk Oblast

Russian tanks enter Donetsk Oblast

13 June 2014

Armed Russian military vehicles consisting of tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored automobiles entered the Donetsk Oblast on June 12, reported Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov. The vehicles entered through a border post that terrorists took control of. Two tanks drove through the town of Snizhne, near the Russian border, and also through another town Torez, where they were accompanied by fighters. Tanks with Russian flags and anti-aircraft artillery were also spotted in the Donetsk city of Makiyivka, heading towards Donetsk, reported ostro.org.

 

Russian Air Forces and border guards provided cover for the Russian military vehicles to enter Ukraine, reported on June 12 Dmytro Tymchuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Research. Russian planes are permanently monitoring the border in order to detect Ukrainian planes capable of undermining Russia’s efforts to dispatch its mercenaries to Ukraine. Russian drones are also being used in the surveillance of the Donbas border region, Tymchuk reported.

 

The tanks are fortifying the forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), reported Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, which practically acknowledged with its report that the Russian government is supporting the terrorists. The report identified the Dmytrivka border post as having allowed through Russian tanks after being taken over by DNR fighters two days earlier. “We confirm our reception of tanks,” said a DNR fighter quoted by the news agency. “They will be dispatched to the most difficult directions.”

 

By evening, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting with armed forces leaders to address the Russian army’s first use of tanks in the Donbas war. Ukrainian soldiers and border guards renewed control of the border extending 100 kilometers, which involved fighting the tanks, reported the president’s press-service. Poroshenko discussed the escalation with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who agreed with his proposal for a peaceful solution.

 

More than 100 EuroMaidan activists held a raucous protest on June 12 at the State Border Service headquarters, demanding the resignation of its head, Mykola Lytvyn. They blocked the building’s entrance to its employees using tires. They accused Lytvyn of “betrayal, corruption and failing to fulfill his responsibilities.” Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov threatened to use force to remove the activists. Meanwhile, a report surfaced this morning that Lytvyn resigned in response to the protest, though that has yet to be confirmed. The headquarters remained occupied as of this morning.

 

“Fighters and their weapons pour through the border daily into the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts,” protester Dmytro Karp told the Ukrayina Moloda newspaper. “All the claims that the border guards are surrounded by separatists and are unable to do anything are exaggerated. The border forces always were among the most well-armed in Ukraine, as well as the anti-aircraft defense.” Other activists threatened “a third maidan” if Avakov decides to use forces against them, reported the Ukrayinski Novyny news agency.

 

The Ukrainian government will close its border with Russia in the following days, said on June 12 Vasyl Krutov, the director of the Antiterrorist Center. “Aggression from that direction was not expected for all the years of independent Ukraine,” Krutov said. “That’s why it was physically impossible to quickly close the border. Now the necessary relocation of forces is being done, which will create the opportunity to ensure the blocking of the corridor in the following days. That’s one of the key steps after which the anti-terrorist operation will succeed in quite a short time.”

 

Ukrainian separatist leader Oleg Tsariov, who was ejected from parliament, held a press conference in Donetsk on June 12, accompanied by former Russian MP Aleksei Zhurvalov and DNR leader Aleksandr Borodai. A “People’s Front” office has opened in Moscow for Russians to offer humanitarian aid to the DNR and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). 15 regions of Russia have announced that they’re ready to cooperate in providing aid, he said. During the press conference, Zhuravlov acknowledged that he illegally crossed a border post controlled by the DNR fighters. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General announced on June 12 a warrant for Tsariov’s arrest after filing criminal charges for his calls for separatism and declared intention of disrupting the May 25 presidential elections.

 

Zenon Zawada: The situation with the Russian-Ukrainian border has become a scandal, especially with daily reports of separatist leaders crossing it freely and especially considering it’s been nearly two months since the first Russian soldiers invaded the Donbas region. The government has few excuses as to why it hasn’t been able to better fortify the border, despite its lengthiness. Improving the border’s security has become the first major test for the Poroshenko administration.

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