Kyiv, September 6, 2014 – “According to preliminary information, after 6 p.m., so after the ceasefire was declared, there have been no casualties among the Ukrainian servicemen”, reported NSDC Information Center spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko during a press briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center. Yesterday, before the declaration of the ceasefire, the Russian armed forces attempted to take the locality of Shyrokine (20 km east of Mariupol) by storm. The enemy used 12 units of armored equipment and about 60 servicemen. Ukrainian Armed Forces departments, Border Service departments and Azov battalion rebuked the attack, resulting in the destruction of 3 Russian BMP’s, 4 tanks and about 20 servicemen. The Ukrainian servicemen also impeded an attempt to storm the locality of Debaltseve in Donetsk oblast.
As has been reported yesterday, the Minsk meeting of the Trilateral contact group concluded with a ceasefire agreement, and the according protocol was signed based on President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan with the inclusion of the initiatives made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Starting 6 p.m. on September 5, all ATO forces adhere to the ceasefire regime, thus strictly following the Head Commander’s orders.
The protocol signed in Minsk consists of 12 points which, among other things, presume OSCE monitoring of the adherence to the ceasefire regime, liberation of all hostages, monitoring of the situation at the border, so that no more military equipment and manpower of the mercenaries reach Ukraine.
Consultations regarding the execution of the peace plan for Donbas continue. It is planned that the hostages will be freed based on the agreements that have been reached in the nearest future. We will report on the process to free these people.
The situation in the ATO zone after the ceasefire was declared became more peaceful. However, a number of provocations on part of the mercenaries were documented yesterday during the evening and at night.
Overall throughout the past 24 hours the mercenaries fired at ATO positions 28 times. 10 of these attacks happened already after the ceasefire had been declared. In particular, in Donetsk oblast: between 6:08 and 18:13 p.m. the terrorists opened artillery fire at the pontoon bridge over the river of Siversky Donets. ATO bases in Krasnosnogorivka were fired at using mine launchers at 6:30 p.m. Besides, several attacks were made on Ukrainian positions at Donetsk airport. In Luhansk oblast: At 6:40 p.m. terrorists used mine launchers to shoot at the ATO roadblock near the locality of Zolote. At 9:44 p.m a sniper attack against a Ukrainian base camp occurred near the locality of Popasne.
At 11:30 p.m. AGC-17 fire against our roadblock near the locality of Frunze was documented.
At 11:45 p.m. sniper weapons were fired at the ATO roadblock near the locality of Zolote.
Opinions regarding the absurdity of this war and disappointment in Moscow’s lying propaganda are spreading among the Russian servicemen in Donbas. In light of the information regarding significant losses among Russian servicemen, the psychological climate within the Russian departments that invaded Ukraine is getting worse.
The Russian side continues to accumulate its armed forces in the north of temporarily occupied Crimea and rotate its manpower and equipment. It is known that the Russian side relocated motorized sniper and artillery departments through the Kerch ferry to the continental side, and is planning to send them to the Ukrainian border on Rostov oblast territory. Meanwhile Russian units are also accumulating at the administrative border between the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Kherson oblast. Throughout the past two days, rotation of personnel and equipment serving at the administrative border checkpoints in Crimea, has been documents.
Russian troops are also becoming active on the road between Taganrog and Mariupol. In particular, yesterday movement of Russian military columns was documented on the road from Rostov to Taganrog and further towards the Ukrainian border. For the most part they are tented Ural vehicles and KamAZ vehicles (including communication and radio-electronic fighting vehicles), as well as armored equipment. The relocating units belong to the Western military district of the Russian Armed Forces.
According to operative data, Russian border servicemen are receiving offers from their leadership to participate in combat in the East of Ukraine. The volunteer resigns from service and receives a one-time compensation of 200 thousand rubles, goes to the combat zone as a “natural person,” after they are involved in missions against ATO forces as a mercenary, they receive a monthly payment of the same amount.
Yesterday after 6 p.m., for the first time in the recent weeks, the terrorists stopped firing at residential areas in the city of Donetsk. The situation on the city’s food market is stable: there is a sufficient amount of meat, dairy, bread and bare essentials in the shops and supermarkets. Meanwhile, the situation with the work of banking institutions remains difficult.
Tension is growing among the terrorists. In particular, arguments are breaking out between the commandment of the Russian units and the mercenaries, the latter refuse to carry out the orders of the military, which creates a threat of provocations.
On September 5 in Newport (Wales), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a number of meetings with the heads of NATO member states aimed to further bilateral cooperation.
In particular, the head of the Ukrainian state met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The President of the Republic of Turkey emphasized the strategic nature of the cooperation between the two countries and confirmed his support of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as the peace plan of the Ukrainian President.
When discussing the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the fact that the leader of the Crimean-Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev is denied entry to his Motherland unacceptable.
The meeting ended with the decision to hold a meeting of a Strategic Partnership Committee in the nearest future.
Petro Poroshenko also met with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Among other things, the Spanish Prime Minister noted the possibility of furthering bilateral cooperation, including that in the military and technical sphere.
At the meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, it was noted that there are many opportunities to broaden cooperation, especially taking into account the fact that both Ukraine and Norway have a common border with Russia. Erna Solberg is to visit Ukraine in November.
We report that Ukrainian-U.S. tactic “Rapid Trident 2014” training will be held between September 15 and 26. The training will be held on the territory of the international center for peacekeeping and security of the Petro Sahaydachniy infantry academy in the Yavorivskiy district of Lviv oblast.
633 servicemen (officers and graduating cadets) from the Sahaydachniy infantry academy will participate in the training, as well as 670 participants from 15 world countries.
