9 October 2014
Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey called for the Russian Armed Forces to give his forces the chance to secure the border and neutralize the ongoing offensives of the pro-Russian terrorists. “Our regular units are capable of stopping the fighters who are shooting up Debaltseve and other cities, and if it was the political will of the Kremlin, then they’d stop them,” he told on Oct. 8 press conference. “Give us the chance to renew the state border and we’ll be able to introduce order not only on the border, but also in Donbas. But only under the conditions that they won’t shoot us in the back at the border.”
Russian-terrorist forces shot up the Donetsk train station at about 17:00 on Oct. 8 with artillery fire, reported the Donetsk City Council that day. The same day, they targeted various sites in the city of Donetsk, killing eight and injuring nine, a local politician reported on Facebook. A group of 40 Russian mercenaries arrived in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region, reported on the morning of Oct. 9 Dmytro Tymchuk, the editor of the Info Resist news site. During the last two days, at least 40 buses of Russian-trained fighters have entered Ukrainian territory, he reported. During the last 24 hours, the Russian-terrorist forces engaged in more than 30 armed attacks and assaults on Ukrainian positions, including the Donetsk airport, Tymchuk reported.
Forty-nine soldiers have been killed and 242 injured since the Sept. 5 ceasefire was declared, reported on Oct. 9 the UN office of the high commissioner on human rights. Though certain regions are peaceful, others are plagued by more intense fighting, particularly the Donetsk airport, the UN report said. “This ceasefire regime is becoming more fragile against the backdrop of daily reports of conflicts, shooting and fighting,” the UN report said, as reported by the Interfax-Ukrayina news agency. “Although there are fewer victims, peaceful residents and soldiers are dying daily.” More than 3,660 people have died in the warfare since mid-April and more than 8,750 have been wounded, reported the UN.
Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the self-declared prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said in an interview with a Russian magazine published on Oct. 8 that his fighters took control of 38 cities and villages since the signing of the Sept. 5 Minsk ceasefire protocols. He claimed that wasn’t a violation of the ceasefire, “We fired in response, always and constantly. We were never the first.” His claims contradicts those of the anti-terrorist operation of the Ukrainian government, which also said its forces never fired first and only in retaliation.
NATO fully supports the efforts of Ukraine to end the conflict in Donbas, said on Oct. 8 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin after meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. It’s “very critical for NATO” to prevent the illegitimate elections planned for early November by the governments of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Klimkin said. Instead, NATO supports holding legitimate elections on these territories in accordance with Ukrainian law to ensure legitimate representation in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.The Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have planned elections for locally established parliaments for Nov. 2. Ukraine’s parliament voted in September to set elections in Donbas for the national parliament on Dec. 7.
Zenon Zawada: Compared to the open warfare of the last several months, the situation in Donbas is calmer. Moreover, top Russian government officials have been relatively silent on Ukraine for the last week or two. However, the reports on the ground indicate that Russian-terrorist forces remain interested in expanding their control and are continuing military strikes. So there’s no basis to believe the armed conflict is winding down.