Ukrainian investigators finger 2 for 2015 rocket artillery attack

Two men, one Russian and one Ukrainian have been identified by the Ukrainian internal security agency, the SBU for their role in a 2015 artillery on a bus in western Donetsk, according to several Russian languages news accounts.

The attack took place January 13th, 2015 in Volnovaha, where Ukrainian military say a Russian backed rebel rocket artillery unit struck a passenger bus, killing 12.

According to a news report which appeared in korrespondent.net, Russian army Colonel Anatoly Sinelnikov and Yuri Shpakov, combined to call a rocket artillery mission on top of a Ukrainian army checkpoint.  The rocket artillery, said to be 122mm rockets from a BM-21 Grad rocket artillery launcher, commanded by Shpakov.  A separate news report in vesti.ukr.ua said that Shakov is a Ukrainian national fighting in the service of the rebels.  Col. Sinelnikov is identified as the commanding officer of the rebel 5th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, the unit to which the rocket unit was attached.

The reports say that the rocket artillery unit was based in Dokuchaevsk when the incident occurred.

Reports at the time of the incident, quoting rebel sources, were that the bus was struck by a Ukrainian directional mine, similar to a Claymore mine.  A video of the location released by the Ukrainian side showed rocket artillery impacts in the area, but rebel media said the video was doctored, and that the impacts looked nothing like a BM-21 rocket artillery attack.

The SBU cannot bring charges against Col. Sinelnikov, nor Shpakov; they only can refer a criminal case to a prosecutor, likely the Ukrainian national prosecutor's office in Kiev.  The reports do not indicate Col. Sinelnikov's location or current command, but they do say Shpakov is still in Dokuchaevsk.

Since the summer of 2015, BM-21 rocket launchers were removed by agreement from the line of contact by both sides.  Before that time it was the most commonly used artillery by both sides.  Despite the agreement by both sides not to use BM-21s, an occasional report filters out of both sides using the multiple rocket launcher system, to limited effect.

The BM-21 in its most common configuration has a range of about 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles.  The distance between Dokuchaevsk and Volnovaha is close to 11 miles.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reports that five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in ongoing artillery attacks along the line of contact in Donetsk and Lugansk.

According to a report which appeared in lb.ua, rebel mortar fire hit locations in southern Donetsk including at Novotroitskoye, Vodyanoye, Pavlopol and Bogdanovka.  Near Donetsk city, rebel mortar fire hit Ukrainian positions at Avidievka.  Rebel mortar fire also was reported in Lugansk at Novoaleksandrovka and Popasnaya.

Rebel media said the Ukrainian overnight shelling (Mar. 8th-Mar. 9th) hit several locations in Donetsk, for a total of 388 shells.  The locations hit by Ukrainian artillery include near Donetsk city at Gorlovka, Zaitsevo, Yasinovataya, Aleksandrovka, Trudovskoye and western outskirts of Donetsk city.  In the south locations hit by Ukrainian overnight shelling include Yelenovka, Kominternovo and Oktyabrskoye.

According to a news release posted by the Donetsk ministry of defense, Ukrainian shelling struck several residential buildings at Yelenovka and Yasinovataya, damaging two buildings.  Three more buildings were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery in Gorlovka and Zaitsevo.

Gas lines in southern Donetsk were damaged by early morning (March 9th) Ukrainian shelling in Kominternovo and Sahanka.

Ukrainian foreign affairs minister says 4K Russian troops in Donbas

Ukrainian foreign minister Pavel Klimkin testified in Washington Tuesday that the Ukrainian government has proof the Russian military has been supplying the separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk with heavy military equipment, munitions and as many as 4,200 troops, according to Russian language news accounts.

According to a news report in lb.ua, Klimkin gave his remarks to a subcommittee on State Department funding.

According to Klimkin, 400 Russian tanks, 800 armored vehicles and 200 rocket artillery launchers are part of the inventories of the two rebel republics.

It is generally known in Russian media that 40,000 rebel troops are under arms in the Donetsk republic, so the 4,200 Russian regulars represent about 10 percent of the total, and most of those probably rear echelon troops there to oversee maintenance and repair of the Russian equipment.

In a separate report in korrespondent.net,  the Ukrainian internal security agency, the SBU provided data to investigators at The Hague that many of the shells used by rebel troops in Lugansk and Donetsk are Russian manufactured.  In the early going, rebel media tried to put forward the idea that all the heavy equipment such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles were battlefield salvage, and not shipped across the Russian border.  The same applied to heavy ammunition such as mortar shells, and artillery and rocket shells.

In the meantime, artillery fire from both sides continued.

According to a report in lb.ua, rebel mortar fire his locations near Donetsk city, including at Severnoye,  Avdievka,  Zaitsevo and Verkhnetoretskye.

In the south near Mariupol rebel artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Talakovka and Taramchuk.  Rebel mortar fire was reported at Vodyanoye, Marinka and Talakovka.

In Lugansk, rebel artillery fire was recorded at Krimenskoye, while rebel mortar fire struck Ukrainian positions at Novotoshkovskoye and Krimenskoye.

The Ukrainian ministry of defense said that four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the artillery shelling.

On the night of March 6th to March 7th, Ukrainian artillery hit several locations in Donetsk. The locations hit included  Trudovskoye,  Aleksandrovka, Luganskoye, Yelenovka, Zaitsevo, Gorlovka Spartak and Yasinovataya.

Near Mariupol, Ukrainian artillery struck rebel positions at Sahanka, Kominternovo, Leninskoye Oktyabrskoye and Novoazovskoye.

Rebel media claimed that Ukrainians fired on their troops almost 4,000 times over the previous 24 hours, including small arms fire.

Donetsk water plant shuts down after only one day

The Avdievka water plant, repaired only hours before after nearly 10 days of being offline, is once against offline due to artillery shelling, according to Russian language news accounts.

According to several Ukrainian news accounts, shelling from Russian backed rebels damaged power  transmission lines to the plant.  However, rebel media claim it was shelling by Ukrainian forces which forced the shutdown of the plant.

In the time between repair of the plant and the latest shutdown, the town of Avdievka managed to increase their water reserves which were low after being shut down after several days of shelling.  None of the other nearby towns on both sides of the line of contact have released information about the conditions of their supplies.

Rebel media reports say that Ukrainian forces started shelling the plant at around 0830 hours March 5th, forcing workers at the plant to seek shelter.  But according to a news account in korrespondent.net, rebel shelling commenced at 1610 on March 5th, and caused damage to the power lines servicing the plant.

According to a news report in lb.ua, Ukrainian forces lost one killed and 12 wounded in ongoing fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk, with Ukrainian forces suffering hits by rebel artillery in most of the same places suffered over the last two  days. near the Mariupol region, near the Sea of Azov.

According to a news account in censor.net.ua, rebel forces hit Ukrainian positions with mortar and tank gun fire at Avdievka, Butova Mine, Peski, Opytnoye, Verkhnetoretskoye, Zaitsevo and Kamenka.

In Lugansk, rebel 152mm artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Kalinovo, Popasnaya, Novozvanovka and Troitskoye.

According to rebel media, a total of 19 residential buildings were damaged in Ukrainian shelling over the previous 24 hours.  One news release from the Donetsk ministry of defense said that Ukrainian forces fired on rebel positions on the line of contact in Donetsk more than 2,400 times, which is a nearly 50 percent increase from the previous day.  That number includes small arms fire as well as artillery shelling.

Of the total of residential buildings damaged, four were in the  Petrovskiy district of western Donetsk city,  11 were in Gorlovka, which is directly north of Donetsk city, three in Yasinovataya and one in Dokuchaevsk.

Among the 13 towns and villages hit by Ukrainian artillery were Staromikailovka, Trudovskoye, Yrlrnovka, in western Donetsk city, Yasinovataya, Spartak, Zaitsevo and Gorlovka.

Four villages near Mariupol were hit by Ukrainian artillery including Dokuchaevsk, Bezimya, Sahanka and Kominternovo.

A separate rebel news release said that two rebel soldiers were killed and one was wounded in the shelling.

A separate account which appeared in novorosinform.org, quoting militiamen near  the Mariupol region, a two small Ukrainian Navy boats, said to be moored in Mariupol went to a position about one kilometer offshore of  Bezymennoye and started firing heavy machine guns at rebel troops stationed there.  Rebel troops returned fire.  The gun battle last 30 minutes before the boats returned to base.

Donetsk water plant resumes operation

After another brief delay  due to nearby fighting the water plant in Avidevka began operations on Saturday, according to Russian language news accounts.

The water plant, set in a no mans land in Advievka stopped working twice, the first time due to shelling and the second time because of plant workers refusing to show up.   The refusal was in part because of mines both sides were firing from mortars into the area.

Ukrainian sappers cleared mines on Thursday, but a further delay was encountered due to fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian backed separatists.

Rebel media claimed that Ukrainian artillery fire resumed in the vicinity of the water plant on Friday, but so far no reports have emerged that the water plant has stopped work.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, a total of six Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in fighting and shelling in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Friday evening two unidentified Ukrainian border guards in Marinka were wounded in small arms fire and mortar directed against their checkpoint.  According to the lb.ua news report, the gunfight lasted 30 minutes.

Elsewhere, rebel artillery fire hit Ukrainian positions in southern Donetsk near Mariupol Friday.  According to a separate lb.ua news report, rebel 122mm artillery fire hit Novogrigoevka, Novomikailovka and Lebedinskoye.  Rebel mortar fire fell on  Vodyanoye, Marinka, Krasnogorovka, Novotroiskoye and Shirokino.

Also on Friday, rebel 152mm artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Krimenskoye and Troitskoye.  Rebel forces also fired mortars in Lugansk at Katerinovka, Troitskoye, Popasnaya and Novoaleksadrovka.

Two Ukrainian soldiers were reported wounded on Friday.

On Saturday, according to yet another lb.ua news report, rebel 122mm artillery fire hit Ukrainian positions in southern Donetsk at  Bogdanovka, Novotroitskiye and Vodyanoye.

In Lugansk on Saturday, rebel 152mm artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Popasnoaya and Kalinovka. Rebel 122mm artillery and 82mm mortar fire was reported at  Novoaleksandrovka, Krimenskoye, Popasnaya and Katerinovka.

Ukrainian reports were that three Ukrainian military were wounded on Saturday,

According to rebel me3dia, Ukrainian artillery fire hit 11 residential buildings in Gorlovka, Zaitsevo and Donetsk on the night of March 3rd to March 4th.  The artillery fire knocked out electrical power in the Petrovskiy district of Donetsk city.

On Saturday rebel media said that Ukrainian forces fired on their positions a total of 2,000 times,  a number which includes small arms fire.  Among the locales hit was the Donetsk airport, Spartak and Yasinovataya.

Suspect in bombing attack on Lugansk president dies in interrogation

Former militant commander and Lugansk political deputy Vitaly Kiselev, was killed in Lugansk police custody Thursday, according to a Russian language news account.

The korrespondent.net news account said that Kiselev was a prime suspect in the bombing attack on Lugansk president Igor Plotnitskiy in August, 2016.

Quoting a BBC report, Lugansk prosecutors conducted an interrogation that the source said was "overdone," which led to Vitaly Kiselev's death.

Despite early denials that the attack was by Ukrainian operatives, Kiselev's death represents a long line of deaths of Lugansk separatist commanders beginning in January of 2015.  At that time, a deputy commander of a separatist military unit Aleksandr Bednov and six others were killed in an attack by police In Georgievka, which is a suburb south of Lugansk city.  Reports at the time said police used a thermobaric rocket to hit the vehicle Bednov was traveling.  At the time of the attack Bednov was chief of staff of the Lugansk 4th Separate Rifle Brigade.  He was said to be under suspicion for murder, rape and robbery.

Vitaly Kiselev was said to be a communist, and was one of several commanders, including most of the Cossack military formation commanders said to be Stalinists.  Those commanders expected the political changes after the takeover by Russian speaking militants would include communization of agriculture.  Nearly every one of those commanders died in violent attacks.  Several other minor Cossack formation commanders also died in Donetsk as well. Separatists in both Lugansk and Donetsk say that those deaths can be traced to Plotnitskiy.

Ukrainian sappers clear area around Avdievka water plant as fighting continues

Ukrainian officials said Thursday that the area around the Avdievka water filtration plant has been cleared of mines, according to Russian languages news reports.

Until Thursday, the issue with restoring water service concerned the mortar delivered mines, shot there by Ukrainian and Russian backed rebel forces.  The minefield was but one obstacle in getting the plant back on line.

The other issue has been the ongoing fighting between the two warring parties, which have been exchanging artillery fire since the beginning of the war 30 months ago, but only in the last 18 months contesting the area in Avdievka.  It is unclear at the moment just how the issue will be resolved.

Earlier reports by Ukrainian media said that Avidevka and nearby towns were running a severe water shortage due to the plant shutdown.  The water plant previously had been declared a gray zone by Ukrainian and Russian ceasefire observers, where neither side would be allowed to contest.

Last year Ukrainian forces moved their front line into the gray zone that included the water plant.  Stray artillery rounds, albeit not very many, had hit the plant, forcing the workers, most of them women, to stop work at the plant.

Recent attacks by Ukrainian forces coupled with counterattacks by rebel forces have shifted the fighting to the water plant, but it wasn't until an armed group belonging to the Ukrainian volunteer forces "Azov" moved a fire team including a mortar team into the plant itself -- after it was hit by artillery fire and abandoned -- that fighting ceased, and help in restoring the plant began.

Meanwhile, elsewhere along the line of contact, fighting continued.

Ukrainian media reported that rebel mortar fire hit the southern Donetsk towns of Vodyanoye and Gnutovo, while 122mm rocket artillery rounds hit Vodyanoye, according to a news report in lb.ua.

Near Donetsk city, rebel 120mm and 82mm mortar fire hit Avdievka and Butovka mine.

A separate lb.ua news report said that rebel forces used tank gunfire on Ukrainian positions in Avdievka.  The report said that the tank rounds destroyed several residential buildings, but did not elaborate on how many.

A news account published on the website of korrespondent.net said that armed men, presumably Russian backed separatists seized control of a football stadium on Thursday.  The report notes that the seizing was likely part of the rebel nationalization of property in Donetsk and Lugansk in the wake of an economic blockade imposed by the Ukrainian government.

Rebel media reported that on the night of June 1st and June 2nd, Ukrainian artillery hit targets in southern Donetsk as well as in and around Donetsk city.  The night time attacks included in Petrovskiy district of Donetsk city, where rebel media claimed residential buildings were damaged.  Damage was reported in Trudovskoye. An early morning Ukrainian artillery attack which lasted three hours, struck rebel positions at Sahanka, Kominternovo and Novoazovskiy near the Sea of Azov coastal city of Mariupol.

Rebel media said that on Thursday, artillery attacks were recorded in western areas of Donetsk and in Yasinovataya.  Artillery attacks were also noted by rebel media at Dokuchaevsk.

In the website novorosinform.org, artillery fire, and presumably direct fire exchanges was noted in Lugansk in Pervomaisk and Stakhanov.  Direct fire combat and mortar fire was reported in the same website at the Donetsk airport, Spartak, Peski and the Oktyabrskiy district of Donetsk. The report said that rebel forces returned mortar fire.  Fighting was reported at the industrial area of Avdievka and in Yasinovataya, including the use of heavy artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (BMP-2).

Security guarantees, land mines delay repairs on Donetsk water plant

The Ukrainian held town of Avdievka reports that its water supply is reaching critical levels, as Ukrainian and Russian backed rebels negotiate repairs on the Avdievka water filtrations,plant according to Russian language news accounts.

The Avdievka water filtration plant has been out of operation since February 24th when worker left the facility following artillery attacks, according to rebel charges, by Ukrainian forces.  Ukrainians have countered with charges that rebel artillery has hit critical electrical infrastructure used to deliver water to the Ukrainian side of the line.

Both sides are under threat of water shortages, although the rebel side has yet to remark on the crisis.

At the moment negotiations have stalled between the two warring factions over security guarantees.  Ukrainian say that rebels have fired mortar launched land mines near the water plant.  Ukrainians also has mines in the area and have offered to remove those explosives, just as long as rebels do not fire onto the area.

This 30 month war has built up a surplus of distrust between the two sides, especially now in the wake of the Ukrainian national government imposition of  an economic blockade on both Donetsk and Lugansk.  The governments of Donetsk and Lugansk have responded that they will seize heavy industrial assets,  effectively "nationalizing" those businesses.

Rebel forces have been firing artillery and mortars on Ukrainian positions over the last 24 hours.  Mortar fire has been reported on Ukrainian positions near the coastal city of Mariupol, including at Gnutovo, Shirokino, Pavlopovo and Vodyanoye.  Ukrainians reported that 122mm artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Vodyanoye.

Rebel 152mm artillery hit Ukrainian positions near Donetsk city, including at Luganskoye and Troitskoye. Both 120mm and 82mm mortar fire was reported in the Donetsk city area including at Peski, Zaitsevo, Troitskoye, Novoluganskoye, Kamenka, Avdievka and Opytnoye.

Ukrainian news accounts also report that one unidentified Ukrainian soldier was killed and seven more were wounded, five of them in the shelling at Butovka mine.

The rebel ministry of defense in Donetsk reported that Ukrainian artillery pounded Yasinovataya, Vasilevka and Mineralevka for four hours on Wednesday, knocking out power in Vasilevka.  The report does not specify what kind of artillery was used in the attack.  Yasinovataya and surrounding areas sit astride the main road between Donetsk and Gorlovka, to the north, and has been in contest between the two sides for nearly 18 months.

Rebels also  claim that Ukrainian forces have fired on their positions more than 1,700 times, but that total includes small arms fire.

In Dokuchaevsk, near The Russian border on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian artillery damaged two residential buildings.  Two more residential buildings were damaged by Ukrainian artillery fire in the northern Donetsk town of Gorlovka.

Ukrainian artillery fire also hit targets in western Donetsk city, and in Zhelznaya Balka,  Mikailovka, Zaitsevo, Ozeryanovka and Verkhnetoretskoye.

In the south, near the Mariupol region, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel held locations at Sakhanka, Oktyabr, Leninskoye and Kominternovo.

Rebels are reporting one dead and one wounded soldier, both unidentified.