Pro-Russian terrorists in Donbas continue attacks on civilian targets

The number of casualties of the Volnovakha terrorist attack against civilians rose by one victim to 13, reported on Jan. 14 Rimma Fil, a spokeswoman for the humanitarian programs launched by Donbas oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. The victim was a pensioner on his way to arrange his pension payments, who later died from his wounds after being hospitalized. Another 14 victims remain hospitalized, she said. The terrorist attack involved a Grad rapid fire missile launcher attacking a Ukrainian road post in the afternoon of Jan. 13. A passenger bus carrying civilians was hit in the attack.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry announced on Jan. 14 that it believes the Russian government is responsible for the Volnovakha terrorist attack. “The Russian government, which is financing the terrorists, carries full responsibility for the killing of peaceful people,” said on Jan. 14 Yevhen Perebiynis, a Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman.

“Since the signing of the Minsk protocols (on Sept. 5), which the Russian side and its backed armed formations are cynically refusing to uphold, more than 130 civilians have died at the hands of terrorists,” Perebiynis said. “That’s why we’re calling upon the world community to condemn the terrorist activity of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and recognize them as terrorist organizations, as well as to apply measures to those backing and financing them.”

Pro-Russian terrorists shot up the town of Shchastia in the Luhansk region the early morning of Jan. 14 in what was reported by the web site of the Luhansk State Oblast Administration later that day as a “massive artillery firing.” The shootings damaged a natural gas pipeline, ruining supplies to the town and surrounding villages. Administration Head Hennadii Moskal also reported an explosive, set off remotely by radio on a Luhansk road, damaged a truck carrying Ukrainian soldiers on Jan. 13, severely injuring two of them.

Pro-Russian terrorists were also massively firing on the manufacturing town of Avdiyivka on Jan. 14 in the Donetsk region, with shells hitting residential areas and a school, reported the region’s police chief on Facebook the same day.

One Ukrainian soldier died and 17 were injured in fighting in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation, reported on Jan. 14 Andriy Lysenko, a state spokesman. The situation in the zone remained tense in the 24 hours ending on the morning of Jan. 14, but a decline in the intensity of the shooting has been observed. The tensest area remains the Donetsk airport, he said.

Zenon Zawada: The Ukrainian government led by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is asking the European Parliament to recognize the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics as terrorist organizations. Yet the Europeans haven’t included such a measure in their draft resolutions so far. Such a measure would enable the Ukrainian government to establish legally that the Russian government is financing terrorist organizations abroad. We expect progress on this front as Europeans prefer applying non-military pressure on the Russian government.

Meanwhile, we expect the daily attacks, at a rate of a dozen or so killings and injuries of Ukrainians per day, to continue into the spring. The Ukrainian public has yet to mount any significant opposition to President Poroshenko’s murky military strategy in Donbas, despite a new round of mobilizations being declared just yesterday. Yet we expect restlessness with the frozen conflict to mount in the spring.