Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Ukrainian Intelligence: Russia sent 120 army officers to Donbas

    Russia sent another 120 Army officers to the separatist-controlled territory of the Donbas, as reported by a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsky.

    "The Russians will occupy command posts in the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the so-called DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) and LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic)," he said.

    Skibitsky added that the Russians included brigade commanders, their deputies and battalion commanders in the …

  • Advisors to the heads of countries taking part in Normandy talks met in Minsk behind closed doors

    Negotiations among the advisers of the leaders of the Normandy format countries ended in Minsk, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.The Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, Dmitry Mironchik, relayed to BelTA, the meeting was held behind closed doors and lasted about four hours.

    He did not give any other details and the parties have not yet commented on the course and results of the meeting.

    The night before the talks, the Minister of Foreign …

  • Dutch investigators question former separatist commander over MH17 air disaster

    One of the leaders of the DPR, Igor Bezler (the former "commandant" of Horlivka with the call sign "Bes"), who currently lives in the annexed Crimea, talked to Dutch investigators (JIT) regarding the downed passenger flight, Boeing MH17, in July of 2014, Current Time reports.

    He discussed the conversation online. The authenticity of the account, from which the correspondence was conducted, was confirmed by his interlocutors.

    "In his testimony, Igor Bezler said he was not involved in the MH17 …

  • Russian general calls message about his involvement in the MH17 air disaster 'stupidity'

    Retired Colonel-General Nikolai Tkachev has called information that he may have been involved in the crash of the MH17 flight in the airspace over the Donbas in 2014 "stupidity", reports TASS.

    "I do not know who’s saying that, but it's obvious stupidity. I have lived in Yekaterinburg for many years;  I have been engaged in military-patriotic education of children. I am in constant contact with public organizations, participate in various public events, and am always under watch by the media," …

  • US representative for Ukraine Volker expresses doubt Russia will withdraw its troops from Donbas any time soon

    Russia has not decided yet on the withdrawal of its troops from the separatist-held territory of Ukraine, and it is unlikely that this will happen in the near future. This opinion was expressed at a press conference following the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna, by the US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, Hromadske reports.

    "I do not believe that Russia has already decided to withdraw troops from the East of Ukraine. We hope that Russia will eventually make this …

  • Conflict Intelligence Team uncovers Russia’s losses during its military operation in Ukraine

    A group of independent investigators from the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) , upon analyzing a tender issued by the Ministry of Defense of Russia, has come to a conclusion that in 2014, Russian military human losses amounted to 218 persons.

    This is an exceptionally high number, which, according to the CIT researchers can be explained by the involvement of the Russian military in combat actions in eastern Ukraine, the CIT said in a research summary published on its website.

    CIT analyzed the …

  • Ukrainian soldiers of the 54th Brigade captured a Russian-made flamethrower in a fight with separatists

    On Thursday, December 7, the soldiers of the 54th Brigade took a Russian-made Shmel (“Flamethrower”) from the invaders reported journalist Andriy Tsaplienko on his Facebook page.

    "A fresh trophy. A Shmel flamethrower. Russian-manufactured. These guys, the fighters of the 54th Brigade captured it today from enemy saboteurs. The latter planned to burn one of the Ukrainian positions from 400 meters. You might ask: ‘How do I know this exact figure?’ Let me explain. The sight of this "Shaitan-tube" …

  • Russia started delivery of aviation fuel to separatist-held areas of Ukraine

    In November 2017, Russia began supplying aviation kerosene to the separatist-controlled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, LIGA.net reports, citing data from the Russian railway.

    From November 15 to 28, the Promsyrieimoprt company, owned by the Russian Ministry of Energy, transported by rail two batches of aviation kerosene with a total volume of about 65,000 kg.

    This amount is enough for a 20-hour flight for an Airbus A321 or Boeing 737-800, or a 5-hour flight for a Ruslan An-124 …

  • International Criminal Tribunal confirms Russia’s military involvement in the armed conflict in the Donbas

    The Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court (The Hague Tribunal, the Netherlands) established a series of facts concerning the military confrontation between the Ukrainian military and the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the Donbass, as stated in a report by the ICC chief prosecutor, Fatu Bensouda, the Novosti Donbassa (Donbas News) reports.

    In their 2016 report, it was established by the preliminary investigation that armed groups, including militants of the Donetsk …

  • Tillerson: Deploying peacekeepers in Donbas a priority for US

    US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that, in order to resolve the conflict in the Donbas, the US considers it a priority to reach an agreement on the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission there.

    A statement to this effect was made by the head of the US foreign policy department on Wednesday, December 6, the day before the planned talks with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov, DW reports.

    “Russia has long resisted the idea of bringing in peacekeeping forces, but now they have agreed,” …