6 October 2014
Russian-terrorist forces made two attempts to storm the Donetsk airport and attacked the positions of the Ukrainian military more than 50 times on the early morning of Oct. 6, reported today Dmytro Tymchuk, the editor of the Info Resist news site. Russian-terrorist forces attacked Ukrainian positions at least 15 times on Oct. 5.
The Russian Armed Forces have deployed drones, tanks, and heavy artillery to the Donetsk Airport, reported on Oct. 3 Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. They also deployed an Ossetian reconnaissance unit to the outskirts of Mariupol, he reported. Two Russian tanks, two armored personnel carriers and one URAL transporter crossed into the Kherson region from Crimea on Oct. 3, Lysenko also reported.
The self-declared deputy prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Andrei Purgin, acknowledged Russian soldiers are in Donetsk, as reported by the BBC-Ukrayina news service on Oct. 3. However, he said their purpose is to ensure the ceasefire is upheld and to conduct negotiations. “They’re not on any side in the conflict,” he said.
Aleksandr Negrebetskikh, a Russian local politician fighting in Donbas, told a Russian news site that 90 percent of his unit is from Russia, in an interview published on Oct .3. Half of the Russians are from the Urals region, while another half are from Siberia. When asked why so few in his unit are locals, he responded, “I’m shocked myself. They’re going to Russia, and we’re coming here. They don’t want to defend their land!” A veteran of the second Chechen war and himself form the Urals, Negrebetskikh said he went to Donbas to defend Russian land. “If we don’t do it here, then sooner or later this fascist ulcer will end up here,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has halted the work of its 120 workers in Ukraine in order to address the killing of its Swiss worker and to transport his corpse home, spokeswoman Alina Murzaeva said on Oct. 4. Twenty Red Cross workers have been in Dontesk, five of them foreigners.
Zenon Zawada: A month after the Sept. 5 Minsk ceasefire protocol, it’s safe to conclude that what we truly have is a frozen conflict between the Russian and Ukrainian governments. It looks as though Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko prefers to refer to it as a “ceasefire” for political ends, including helping the performance of his party in the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections.
What’s worth watching this month is whether the Russian Armed Forces decide to escalate the conflict ahead of the Oct. 26 vote, which would hurt the standing of Poroshenko and attempt to undermine the vote’s legitimacy (by creating conditions that discourage voters from turning out). We are confident an escalation will happen, and it’s likely to be sooner rather than later.