Ukrainians claim 100 structures damaged from rebel artillery

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By Chris Covert

Ukrainian official sources claimed that on Monday, rebel rocket artillery hit a Ukrainian held location in northern Donetsk, damaging more than 100 buildings and wounding eight civilians, according to Russian language news accounts.

Official rebel media denied the reports.

Meanwhile, official rebel media said that a massive Ukrainian artillery attack hit Pervomaisk, Kalinovo and Stakhanov in northern rebel held areas of Lugansk.

According to a news account posted in lb.ua, rebel rocket artillery began firing from near Zaistevo, northeast to Novolugansk at around 1700 hrs Monday, Moscow time. The attack damaged a power station, gas lines and residential structures.

Novolugansk is on the west side of the main road leading from Bakhmut (formerly Artemovsk) to rebel held Debaltsevo, part of an area known as the Svetlodarsk arc.

According to a statement released Monday by Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces, specifically the artillery detachments of the Ukrainian 54th Separate Mechanized Rifle Brigade and the 128th Separate Mountain Rifle Brigade, hit Novolugansk with rocket artillery originating from Ukrainian held areas north of Zaistevo/Gorlovka.

Both Ukrainian units were the units that sent troops in to capture a pair of villages just north of Zaistevo, in Gladosovo and Travnevoye, a few weeks ago.

The statement said that rebel troops are close to, but not in Novolugansk, so it is possible that the artillery fire was directed at rebel troops but fell short.  If so, it would not be the first time in this three year old war that Ukrainian artillery units have fired shorts.

Use of rocket artillery has been forbidden since the middle of 2015, when both sides agreed to withdraw all large bore weapons from the front line.  That said, the rocket artillery platform most commonly used by both sides, the 122mm BM-21 has a range out to 45 kilometers, depending on the type of munitions used.

Both sides from time to time have accused the other of firing rocket artillery, but its reported use is not constant.

Reports compiled and presented through the website of Russian retired reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin, novorosinform.org, said that the Ukrainian artillery attack on Pervomaisk, Stakhanov and Kalinovo began at around 2030 hrs Monday night and lasted about 20 minutes.  The weapons used included 82mm and 120mm mortars including mines.

Damaged structures in Stakhanov included five story and eight story residential buildings, with residents complaining about damage to the roof and damage to gas lines in the area.  Power was temporarily knocked out in the area.

According to official rebel accounts in Lugansk, three unidentified individuals were wounded in Stakhanov and one in Pervomaisk

In Kalinovo, reports say that three civilians were wounded in the attack, and that a water filtration plant was damaged and put out of operation.  Power was temporarily knocked out from that attack as well.

Reports from Donetsk say that Ukrainian artillery hit residential areas of Gorlovka, wounding one unidentified female, and damaging residential structures.  A video posted on the website of Gorlovka Pravda showed two areas where Ukrainian shells hit, one of them said to be from a 152mm howitzer.  Gas lines were damaged from the shrapnel as well.

A separate report from novorosinform.org said that a new artillery attack on Gorlovka was recorded Tuesday afternoon.  A separate attack which damaged two residential buildings was recorded in Dokuchaevsk, which is south of Donetsk city.

  Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here and here

4 Ukrainians wounded in artillery shelling in Donetsk

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By Chris Covert 

Fighting in the recently captured Gladosovo and Travnevoye villages and shelling in key parts of the line of contact continued as five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded and one rebel soldiers was killed according to Russian language news accounts. 

 On Friday night, according to Russian backed rebel media in Donetsk, a Ukrainian seven man patrol was caught near Dolomitoye attempting to infiltrate the line of contact south. Dolomitoye is near Gorlovka and Gladosovo. According to the news release, two Ukrainian effectives were killed, as the other five escaped back to their lines. 

 Rebels media reported that Ukrainian site commanders in Gladosovo and Travnevoye have detained a number of civilians in the two towns, two of them charged with reporting to rebel commanders as artillery damage assessors. According to Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman, Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian commanders are talking about using the detainees as human shields. 

 Reports in the Russian sponsored Russkaya Vesna news outlet said that looting continues to occur in Gladosovo and Travnevoye, and that Ukrainian commanders are promising their soldiers to permit looting in exchange for capturing rebel held villages.

 Ukrainian media has not addressed the charges to date. 

 Russkaya Vesna also reported that Ukrainian artillery fire struck rebel positions at the Donetsk airport, Spartak and the Yasinovataya checkpoint Monday night. 

 Russkaya Vesna also said that on Monday night, Ukrainian heavy artillery fire hit rebel positions at Logvinovo south of the Svetlodarsk arc. An hour later, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions to the east of Svetlodarsk at Pervomaisk, and Stakhanov, both of which are key positions for the rebels in Lugansk. 

 In lb.ua, however, a report said that on Sunday, five Ukrainians were wounded in rebel shelling in a number of locales in both Donetsk and Lugansk. The report said that rebel mortar and heavy weapons fire hit the Lugansk villages of Krymskoye, Novotoshkovskiy, Travnevoye, Svetlodarsk, Luganskoye and Zaitsevo. 

The lb.ua report goes on to state that heavy fighting took place in Avdievka, where rebels fired more than three dozen 82mm mortar shells, including mines. 

  Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here and here

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Rebels and Ukrainian forces both claim four dead each as losses mount and ongoing shelling and probes continue, according to Russian language news reports.

According to a news release by the rebel Donetsk ministry of defense four rebel soldiers were killed in the past week.  The news release failed to note where the soldiers were killed, but it is known that most of the fighting in Donetsk is taking place as Dokuchaevsk, Avdievka, near Gorlovka and near the Svetodarsk arc in Lugansk.

Last week rebel media claimed that losses from the Ukrainian occupation of Gladosovo and Travenoye were so heavy that Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw.  At first, informal accounts by militiamen for the rebels, posted at retired reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin' VKontackte page, indicated that rebel forces had ringed the outskirts of Gladodovo and Travenoye with snipers, causing as many as ten dead in a 24 hour period.

Parts of the Ukrainian 54th Motorized Rifle brigade and the volunteer 24th "Aydar" battalion, along wiht a small artillery unit now occupied Gladosovo

Official rebel media later claimed the Ukrainian forces had not withdrawn, but instead had suffered losses due to friendly fire.  

A week later, it appears that Ukrainian forces have withdrawn some forces, it is reported, with one tactical commander refusing to move due to intense rebel fire.

According to a post on the website of the Russian sponsored Russkaya Vesna, Ukrainian losses have increased to 17 dead and nine wounded.  It is unclear in the reports if the counts are cumulative, or are since the last week.

The Ukrainian Russian language news outlet said that rebel forces continue to pound Ukrainian positions at Travnevoy, Vodanoye, which is in southern Donetsk and at Avdievka near Donetsk city, using a variety of heavy weapons including 120mm mortars.

Rebel media now claim that the  takeover of Gladosovo is part of the Ukrainian general staff's plan to reinforce their positions to prepare for another mini offensive.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on  Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here  and here