1 dead, 5 wounded in shelling in Donetsk

A total of five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded and another one was killed in artillery fire from Russian backed rebels over the past 48 hours, according to Russian language news accounts.

A news article in lb.ua said that on Monday three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded from rebel artillery fire near Mariupol in southern Donetsk.

Rebels hit Vodyannaya with mortar fire which wounded one Ukrainian soldier.  At 1800 hrs, another 120mm mortar attack wounded another soldier near Shirokino and Pavlopol.

The third soldier was wounded around 2100 hrs when rebel artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Shirokino.

lb.ua reported that rebel hit Shirokino another 18 times with 122mm rocket artillery.

On Tuesday, a rebel sniper killed one Ukrainian near Marinka, which is in the southern Donetsk area.  Two more Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack in Talakovka.

Rebel media said that on Monday, the Ukrainian military fired a total of 360 rounds, 145 of which landed in or near Donetsk and the rest in the Mariupol region.

Four 122mm artillery shots were reported by rebel media in Gorlovka.

On Tuesday, rebels said that night artillery fire hit the Donetsk settlement of Yasinovataya damaging the rail station.

In a separate report, rebel media claimed Ukrainian launched a midday artillery attack on the southern Donetsk town of Kominternovo using 120mm mortars.  The attack lasted 30 minutes and damaged three residences.

Rebels, Ukrainians suffer heavy casualties in southern Donetsk

The killed in action and wounded toll counts between Russian backed rebels and Ukrainian soldiers reached the double digits in southern Donetsk in a midday ground assault Monday afternoon, according to Russian and Ukrainian language news accounts.

Rebel media claimed the encounter took place in Kominernovo, which is 12 kilometers due east of Mariupol, on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov.

According to the website novorosinform.org. two Ukrainian rifle platoons (about 60 effectives) attacked rebel fixed positions supported by artillery fire, tanks and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).  A total of 10 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another five were wounded.  Various rebel media reports say the Ukrainians lost one BMP-1, and one tank was damaged.

Rebel media showed a reporter's video which showed some of the Ukrainian dead.  Rebel media characterized the attack as an attempt to break through the lines.  Rebel media also said that the Ukrainians were forced back t their start lines as a result of the attack.

The Donetsk ministry of defense said that the total dead for the Ukrainians at Kominternovo amounted to 12 dead and 16 wounded, two IFVs and two tanks damaged.

Starting on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, the line of  Bezimennie-Sakhanka-Kominternovo has been the target of many weeks of artillery fire and small unit probes by the Ukrainians, including a small arms attack by sea.

According to korrespondent.net, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said that eight rebel soldiers were killed and 16 wounded.  A lb.ua report said that rebel artillery launched against Ukrainian positions included 152mm and 122mm artilery, 122mm rocket artillery, and 82mm and 120mm mortar fire into the area of Vodyanoye, which is only a few hundred meters south of Kominternovo.  Rebel media reported that Ukrainian artillery in southern Donetsk continued overnight at Kominternovo between March 20th and March 21st.

A subsequent report by the Donetsk ministry of defense said that Ukrainian artillery struck rebel positions in and around Yasinovataya for 90 minutes on Tuesday.  The Ukrainian ministry of defense, quoted by lb.ua, said that rebel artillery hit Ukrainian positions at Avdievka, Opytnoye, the Butovka mine and at Peski.

The reported losses at Kominternovo are some of the heaviest combat losses by both sides since last year, when Ukrainian forces attacked rebel positions along the Svetlodarsk arc, which is north of Debaltsevo.  In that battle, the Ukrainian attempt the break a large section of the rebel line using the same formula, light infantry supported by artillery, IFVs and tanks.  A subsequent attack near Yasinovataya attempted to break the rebel  line between Gorlovka and Donetsk, but that attack was stopped as well.

According to rebel bloggers the decision to make the attack on Kominternovo was made by a rifle company commander who had been drinking.

Despite nearly constant fighting and increasing combat experience since the fall of 2014, neither side is capable of forcing a decision anywhere along the line of contact.  The Russian backed rebels hold an extensive defensive system that Ukrainian forces have yet to break even after months of shelling.  The Ukrainian hold the same defensive system on their side of the line.

3 Ukrainian soldiers die in fighting in Donetsk

A total of three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another seven were wounded in ongoing fighting in southeastern Ukraine, according to Russian language news accounts.

For most of the past week, fighting between the Russian backed rebels of  Donetsk and Lugansk, and Ukrainians have subsided somewhat, but in the last 48 hours artillery attacks for both sides have increased.

According to a news account in lb.ua, quoting the Ukrainian ministry of defense, three Ukrainian soldiers were killed Friday along with four wounded.

The fighting is confined to three specific areas, in southern Donetsk, near Donetsk city and in northwestern Donetsk.

The lb.ua report said that rebel forces fired on Ukrainian positions a total of 112 times in a 24 hour period.

Rebel 82mm, 120mm mortars and 122mm artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Lebedinskoye, Shirokino, Gnutovo and Vodyanovo.

Rebel mortars and artillery, including  heavy 152mm artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Marinka and Krasnogorovka.

In Avdievka, near Donetsk city, rebel mortars were reported hitting targets there and in old Avdievka, nearer to the line of contact near Gorlovka.

On Saturday, rebel 82mm and 120mm mortars fired on Ukrainian positions at Avdievka and Peski.  Near the Sea of Azov, rebel 120mm mortar fire hit Vodyanovo and 122mm artillery struck Ukrainian positions at Gnutovo.

Rebel media claimed overnight Friday to Saturday that Ukrainian forces fired on rebel positions a total of 307 times using medium and heavy artillery.  Among the locations struck by Ukrainian artillery near Mariupol was Novoazovskiy.  Ukrainian artillery also struck rebel positions at Yelenovka, near the Donetsk airport, and western districts of Donetsk city, as well as at Zaitsevo, Gorlovka and Yasinovataya.

According to a summary in novorosinform.org, On Saturday, Ukrainian artillery hit the Petrovsky district of Donetsk city, Spartak, Avidevka, Gorlovka and Zaitsevo.  In the south Ukrainian artillery hit Kominternovo and Zaichenko.

Both sides are claiming they struck each others' positions in Yasinovataya, with the Ukrainians claiming that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation witnessed the artillery strikes.  According to rebel media, one civilian was wounded in the artillery attacks.

Rebel media also claimed to have monitored radio traffic that reported eight Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an ammunition handling accident in Opytnoye, where four self propelled 122mm artillery vehicles were parked.  Two of the SP vehicles were destroyed in the incident.

Girkin says contractors are part of rebel army in Donetsk

Russian Reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin said on a television interview that a total of 15,000 well paid contractors are part of the rebel army in the separate republic of Donetsk, according to a korrespondent.net news reports.

The Donetsk army count 40,000 effectives in their ranks, including, according to Ukrainian reports, about 4,000 Russian regulars.

Col. Girkin, who goes by the call sign Strelkov, was a key figure in the start of the civil war in Ukraine, and played a central role in the takeover of Crimea in the spring of 2014.

Girkin also said in his remarks that the rebel army no longer has the combat power to expand the territory Russian backed separatists now control, save for a Russian-backed general war and offensive.  The reasons include the increased strength of the Ukrainian Army in the area.

Despite temporarily holding the post of Donetsk minister of defense before Vladimir Kononov took over in early August of 2014, Girkin has not had friendly relations with the political/military leadership of Donetsk.

In a Live Journal post last Sunday, Girkin all but called Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Lugansk president Igor Plotnitsky criminals, who would not be able to maintain their posts in any future administration, even if in the unlikely event a political solution to the Ukrainian civil war could be found.   Among the suggested solutions, at least by Girkin, included the formation of a  Transnistria-like autonomous entity which would presumably fold both former Ukrainian provinces into a single autonomous region.

Transnistria is a nation state between western Ukraine and Romania which is recognized by only three other nations, including Russia.  It was formed following a brief civil war just after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992.

Since the start of the Ukrainian civil war in the spring of 2014, autonomy for Donetsk and Lugansk has been discussed among Ukraine, Russian and the European Union as a possible solution to the conflict, the most immediate effect of which would be to turn Ukraine into a federation.  Ukrainian nationalists, such as members of Right Sector and other political blocks, vehemently oppose federalizing the nation to suit a Russian speaking minority in southeastern Ukraine.

Recriminations have been flying among the former and current political leadership of Donetsk, and Girkin in recent days.

According to former foreign minister of Donetsk Aleksandr Koffman, it was Girkin's actions in the early part of the civil war while in Slavyansk in the spring of 2014 which provoked the Ukrainian military into attacking the separatists with military force. Girkin already had been fingered along with Ukrainian GRU Colonel Igor Bezler for the murder of Vladimir Rybak, a Gorlovka politician in March of 2014.

Reports following the separatists' retreat from Slavyansk in the summer of 2014, even those most favorable to Girkin, painted his charges as armed thugs who conducted checkpoints to rob passersby.

Fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk

According to several news reports in lb.ua a total of seven Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers were wounded in the ongoing fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk on Monday.

According to one of the lb.ua accounts, rebel 120mm mortars struck Ukrainian positions in southern Donetsk at Shirokino, Novotroisk, Marinka and Krasnogorovka.  Rebel 82mm mortar fire hit Gnutova.

The report said that rebels used rocket artillery, tank gunfire and mortar fire in Avdievka.  Rebel 82mm mortar fire hit Opytnoye, Kamenka and Zaitsevo.

In Lugansk,  rebel 120mm mortar fire hit Ukrainian positions at Krimenskoye.

Rebel media claimed that Ukrainian artillery fire damaged 13 buildings in western Donetsk city and in Zaitsevo over night.

Ukrainian artillery fire was reported at the Kuibyshevsky district of Doentsk city, at the Donetsk airport, at Spartak and Zaitsvo.

In southern Donetsk, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions at Novoazovskiy, Sakhanka and Kominternovo.

A mortar duel between rebel forces and Ukrainian forces was recorded near Debaltsevo, near the Svetlodarsk region.

Donetsk water plant repairs delayed by artillery

Repairs on the Avdievka water filtration plant were delayed once again due to fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian backed rebels, according to Russian language news accounts.

Avdievka is a northern suburb of Donetsk city, and has been controlled by Ukrainian forces since the summer of 2014.

The water plant has been shut down numerous time since February 15th, when artillery exchanges between the two combatants forced the shutdown.  Since that time the plant has been fired on repeatedly, according to rebel media, either damaging the power lines that operate the plant, or by forcing personnel from working at the plant because of security concerns.

The water filtration plant serves all of Avdievka, as well as parts of Donetsk and nearby villages on both sides of the line of contact.

The latest outage is because of security concerns for electrical repair crews.

Physical damage to the plant has been limited to damage to the building and to power lines which service the plant.  Rebel say that last Saturday, Ukrainian forces fired small arms fire on vehicles carrying plant workers as they evacuated the water plant.  Ukrainian artillery has been blamed for damage to the power lines feeding the plant in Yasinovataya.

Yasinovataya has been a major issue between the two warring parties, after last year when Ukrainian forces moved into a gray zone in western Avdievka, making the line of contact much closer to the west.  Artillery fire from Ukrainian forces in Yasinovataya has been nearly a daily feature since that time.

Now Ukrainian media is claiming that rebel forces fired rocket artillery on Avdievka on Sunday, and it has been rebel artillery fire that has cut off Avdievka electricity.  Ukrainian media said rebel forces fired a total of ten rockets into the town.  The day before, Ukrainian media accused rebels of firing tank main gun fire on a high rise building in Avdievka.  Rebels claimed that the Ukrainian staged the attack for the benefit of Ukrainian electronic media.

According to a news account in lb.ua, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and five more were wounded in the fighting Sunday.

The Ukrainian KIAs died in a firefight in southern Donetsk.  Although the exact location wasn't disclosed, Ukrainian media reports are that a firefight took place  in Marinka between a Ukrainian fixed position and a rebel probe.

Rebel artillery hit Ukrainian positions in the southern Donetsk region at Nikolaevka, while rebel mortars stuck Ukrainian positions at Slavnoye, Gnutovo, Pavlopol and Berezovoye.

Near Donetsk city, rebel mortars hit Ukrainian positions at  Butovka mine, Luganskovo and Nevelskovo.

In Lugansk, rebel mortars were reported hitting Ukrainian positions at  Ekaterinovka, Bolguslaskovo, Novoaleksievka and Popasnoye.

According to a report compilation, firefights and mortar attacks have been taking place at several points near Donetsk city including at the Donetsk airport, the Petroskiy district, Yasinovataya, Staromykailovka, Zaitsevo and Spartak.  Heavy artillery fire and ground combat have been taking place at Marinka, Yelenovka and Dokuchaevsk.

Near the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian artillery hit several locales including at Novoazovskoye, Sakhanka and Kominternovo.

The Donetsk ministry of defense reported that the March 4th seaborne attack by elements of the Ukrainian Navy aboard two small motor boats resulted in two Ukrainian dead and three wounded. One boat was heavily damaged in the attack and had to be towed back to Mariupol.

Correction

On a Sunday March 5th news article entitled "Donetsk water plant shuts down after only one day ", in the last paragraph I said that a Ukrainian navy boat detachment sailed off the coast of the Sea of Azov at Dokuchaevsk and began firing heavy machine guns on rebel forces.

The actual location was the village of Bezymennoye. Dokuchaevsk is close to 25 kilometers inland.

The error has been corrected.

Accusations exchanged over heavy weapon attack in Donetsk city

Ukrainian media leveled charges that Russian backed rebels fired heavy weapons into residential highrise buildings, shutting off power for the town, according to Russian language news reports.

According to a news account posted on korrespondent.net, rebel tanks fired their main guns hitting a high residential building in Avdievka Saturday. According to a separate rebel report report, observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe were present at the site and witnessed the shelling.  The korrespondent.net report does not mention the presence of the OSCE representatives at the site.  The rebel  report also said that Ukrainian journalists were present in Avdievka to do a report on rebel shelling of residential areas.

Advievka and points west have been a center of military activity from both sides.  Once a gray zone, a Ukrainian attack moved forces into the area, effectively cutting off the main road between Donetsk city and Gorlovka to the north.

A rebel report said that Ukrainian tanks staged the incident for the benefit of reports on the scene,  firing their main guns into the high rises at close range.  As an aside, rebel artillery has hit buildings in Avidevka in the past, including the coke plant industrial facility in western Avdievka.

The artillery fire has cut off electrical power in Avdievka.

An lb.ua report said that rebel mortars and tank gunfire hit Ukrainian positions in Avdievka and Butovka mine in Donetsk city.

Near southern Donetsk, rebel artillery hit Ukrainian positions at  Nikolayevka.  Rebel mortars were fired on Marinka.

Ukrainian media has reported that two Ukrainian military were killed and another 25 were wounded in the previous 24 hours.

Rebel media through the Donetsk ministry of defense website said that one civilian was wounded in overnight shelling in Gorlovka.  Reports say that a total of five residential buildings were damaged in overnight shelling in the Petrovskiy district of Donetsk, Trudovskoye and Gromovsky, near Gorlovka.

Rebel media also said that Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions at  the Kievsky district of Donetsk city, Yasinovataya and at Aleksandrovka.   Other locations rebel media are reporting hit by Ukrainian artillery are Zaitsevo, Yelenovka, which is southwest of Donetsk city, and Spartak, which is near the Donetsk airport.

In southern Donetsk, Ukrainian artillery was reported pounding rebel positions at  Dokuchaevsk, Kominterovo, Sakhanka, Bezymenoye and Oktyabr.

Reports in novorosinform.org said that direct fire combat took place at Novoazovsk,   Dokuchaevsk, the Donetsk airport, Spartak and at the Yasinovatskiy checkpoint.