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Thread: Ukraine: Russo-Ukr War (June-December 2015)

  1. #2041
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    Ceasefire is defintely holding all along the Minsk 2 defined demarcation front line.

    Will be signing off early this evening.

    For the first night of autumn in Berlin--cool after raining.

    This finishes the third hottest summer for the area in over 150 years.

  2. #2042
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    @carlbildt

    Center Party in Sweden coming out in favor of NATO membership is a major development. Neutrality was in the old world part of its DNA.

    Leaders of #Sweden Center Party: "non-alliance risks becoming a security risk rather than offering safety" #NATO http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...ership-in-nato

    In significant U-turn, leaders of Center Party will recommend at the party's next conference that Sweden join NATO http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...ership-in-nato
    Three of the four political parties in Sweden opposed to the government are now in favor of joining #NATO. http://www.ibtimes.com/sweden-joinin...liance-2077659

  3. #2043
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Ceasefire is defintely holding all along the Minsk 2 defined demarcation front line.

    Will be signing off early this evening.

    For the first night of autumn in Berlin--cool after raining.

    This finishes the third hottest summer for the area in over 150 years.
    Outside of several reports of armored vehicles on the move in various front line Russian controlled areas ---not much is happening.

    Donetsk 21:28PM Kirovskyi ds Mil. equipment on move, loud. Probably the night will be "festive". https://twitter.com/war_explorer/sta...80383585267714

    Donetsk 21:31 Kirovskyi ds Very much equipment, hum since 5-10 minutes. I don't know where are they going. https://twitter.com/war_explorer/sta...81217740070912

    Donetsk 22:18 Kirovskyi ds Again equipment! https://twitter.com/war_explorer/sta...92971282980865

    Makiivka 22:20 Equipment! Loud! https://twitter.com/war_explorer/sta...93597551312897

    Have a nagging feeling--the Russian mercenaries who have been excessively talkative over the last year propoganda wise suddenly announced this ceasefire and suddenly are holding to it without even a propaganda whimper or explanation for it--totally unnormal for Russian standards.

    For the Russians who have been claiming that they are winning to suddenly appear to be defeated makes no sense--therefore the nagging feeling.

    Looks like the Russians want to put the thread out of business.

    Final sign off for the day.
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 09-01-2015 at 07:28 PM.

  4. #2044
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    Will watch the social media a tad longer--now a sudden up tick in Russain heavy equipment being on the move--in two different normal hotspots.

    second report from Makiivka 22:18 armored trucks here http://wikimapia.org/20052841/ru/%D0...BD%D1%8B%D0%B9https://twitter.com/VasyaMakeevskiy/...93328251793408

    More equipment moves in Makiivka

    This is why I have a nagging feeling---something is simply not right and makes no sense from the previous Russian military actions.

    Basurin of DNR: #Ukraine continues to mass weapons near front-line. Accuse the other of what you do yourselves http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/1-septe...o-mass-weapons
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 09-01-2015 at 07:38 PM.

  5. #2045
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    Humor----

    Starting from 1st of September, #ruble becomes primary currency of #DPR, #LPR, El Dorado, Atlantis, Middle-earth, Valhalla and Shangri-La

  6. #2046
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    Russia Puts Boots on the Ground in Syria by .@michaeldweiss
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...a=twitter_page

  7. #2047
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    ATO presser: Almost complete ceasefire, 5 russian attacks in #Donbas yday, and 1 attack after midnight with grenade launchers near #Optyne.

    #Donetsk
    3:02AM Loud explosion.
    3:07AM Assault rifles. https://twitter.com/Serzzze/status/638873349758812165

    'Thorn’ – the Latest #Russia|n Radio Intelligence System Was Noticed Near #Donetsk Airport
    https://en.informnapalm.org/torn-the...netsk-airport/ … pic.twitter.com/vYby1VCO4R

  8. #2048
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    All quiet on the "eastern frontline"--ceasefire is holding.

    Dug up this on Russian military doctrine which accurately depicts what Russian troops and her mercenaries are up to.

    "Ceasefire" - Russian military term for consolidating occupied territory, strengthening positions, resupply, rearming and rotating troops.

  9. #2049
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    The writing by this former USAF SOF pilot is really really good and he is about the only US journalist who has been constantly on the front lines since last year YET largely ignored by western MSM and he writes with a passion.

    Recommend to all ---read anything of his since 2014 when you come across it.

    http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/01/th...y-but-it-wont/

    The Ukraine War Is Supposed to End Today. But It Won’t.

    Nolan Peterson / @nolanwpeterson / September 01, 2015

    KYIV, Ukraine—One year ago I was in Mariupol, Ukraine, when the first cease-fire was signed on Sept. 5, 2014.

    Late that afternoon I visited the still smoldering battlefields outside the city. There had been a battle that day and the day prior, involving tanks and artillery. The aftermath was tragic. Many soldiers still lay dead where they had fallen in battle, frozen in the moment and the motion of their deaths.

    During the fighting, the sounds of the cannons had rattled windows in central Mariupol. The people of the city weren’t yet used to the sounds of heavy weapons as they are today, and they wore their fears on their faces. I remember, in particular, eating lunch at a seaside café when the sounds of explosions first started. The young man sitting across from me, who was sipping on a beer and eating a salad, looked up from his meal and into my eyes.

    Is this really happening? We both seemed to ask each other with a shared look.

    Any doubts about the terrible reality of this war were erased when I visited the battlefields. I could write my impressions again, but I think it would be best to show you what I wrote that evening, when what I had seen was still fresh in my mind and not dulled by a year of reporting on this war.


    Sept. 5, 2014:

    […]Tank battles, heavy artillery, long distance rocket attacks—this kind of combat is terrifying.

    But the terror is short lived, and the cease-fire appears to be holding. The bars are open tonight in Mariupol. Across town young brides and grooms are getting married, following through on ceremonies put off by the fighting.

    Life goes on.

    Yet out there beyond the city streets, far away from the cheesy music and the embraces of newlyweds, the scars of the last two days of battle are still smoldering. After the fighting ended today, I went out to where the fighting had been to see what war really is.

    The charred bodies of Ukrainian and separatist soldiers dotted the freshly stilled battlefields. These were the bodies of men who did not die well. Not by the mercy of a gunshot to the head or the heart. Some had their bodies ripped apart by the concussion of artillery blasts. Some were missing limbs. Some with their insides spilled in the earth around them. Others burned to death, trapped inside the steel coffins their tanks became. Quite a few died in the way they desperately clung to life—bodies halfway out of their ruined vehicles or splayed on the ground in fetal positions. All young men. And all of their lives ended today. The convenient forgetting about why they died begins tonight.

    And still, as Mariupol celebrates, as I write these words, many more scared and tired young men wait in trenches and in tanks poised to once again release the dogs of war.

    And I was right. On Sept. 6, the day after the cease-fire, fighting resumed around Mariupol, commencing five months of escalating violence that would last until the second cease-fire, signed Feb. 12, 2015, which immediately collapsed into another six months of war, which leads us to now, and another cease-fire…

    The Revolving Door of War

    The Ukraine war is scheduled to end Sept. 1 with a new truce set to coincide with Ukrainian students’ return to school.

    On Aug. 26, the trilateral contact group—comprising representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the separatist territories, under OSCE oversight—hashed out this latest call to end the fighting. And during an Aug. 29 telephone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called for a full cease-fire on Sept. 1.

    At midnight on Tuesday, guns fell silent along the eastern front, according to the Ukrainian military. “From midnight to 06:00 on Sept. 1, the Kremlin-backed mercenaries were not using weapons along the demarcation line,” the Anti-Terrorist Operation press center wrote in a Tuesday morning statement.

    It feels like déjà vu in Ukraine.

  10. #2050
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    Ukraine is determined to ensure security in Kyiv and to not allow another grenade attack occur.


    Maxim Tucker @MaxRTucker
    #Ukraine: Cougar AFVs are to patrol streets around #Kiev's government district, with an extra 2,200 security forces pic.twitter.com/cvfCTLKTOd

  11. #2051
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    Has Russian now expanded their non linear war to include Syria---after the recent dust up between Russia and the KSA Foreign Minister who declared that Assad is the problem and must go.

    Russia is attempting to rebrand Assad as this great anti IS fighter and Russia is doing everything it can to convince the US to support their proxy in his fight against IS BUT at the same time Russia has defined Assad a key ally.

    BUT it now appears that Russia has place Russian boots on the ground and not said a single world--that can not have gone undetected by US intel.

    Syria Nusra linked acc. posted pics of Russian made drone & jets flying over Western #Idlib. Huge if true. pic.twitter.com/1xPuUbD9an
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-02-2015 at 12:10 PM. Reason: Copied to the Syria thread as it fits there.

  12. #2052
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    When one sees the Ukrainian loses just for the period August 2015 and the sheer number of Russian attacks--it is hard not to state the Russians were in fact slow stepping ie masking their general offensive.

    IT is also pathetic that Obama, Hollande and Merkel during the same timeframe uttered not a single condemnation against Putin and the Russian military.

    Actually even the NATO SACEUR was extremely quiet--wonder why--he was #### down just like every US General has been that stated Russian is an existential threat to the US.

    2920 cease-fire violations. Ukrainian Army lost 45 KIA and 225 WIA in August 2015. See report http://lugansk-news.com/2920-cease-f...n-august-2015/ … pic.twitter.com/WXXg41nRsq

  13. #2053
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    All quiet on the "eastern frontline"--ceasefire is holding.

    Dug up this on Russian military doctrine which accurately depicts what Russian troops and her mercenaries are up to.

    "Ceasefire" - Russian military term for consolidating occupied territory, strengthening positions, resupply, rearming and rotating troops.
    http://www.interpretermag.com/ukrain...schastye/#9797

    If There's A Ceasefire, Why Are Russian-Backed Fighters Massing Armor And Jamming OSCE Drones?

    13:10 (GMT)

    So far Ukraine is seeing its second day of ceasefire, and as we reported below for the most part it is holding. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. The OSCE is witnessing the ceasefire holding, but they are also simultaneously warning that Russian-backed forces appear to be massing just behind the front lines. In fact, their drones are still crashing after their signal is interrupted by jamming equipment.

    Take these excerpts from their report published yesterday but dated August 31:


    At a “DPR” training area and shooting range in Rozy Liuksemburh (45km north-east of Mariupol), the SMM heard five explosions and shooting, which it assessed to have been fired from infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), anti-tank guns (ATGs) and anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM).

    At 10:13hrs, while flying south of “DPR”-controlled Sontseve (59km north-east of Mariupol), all contact with an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was abruptly lost. Contact with the UAV was not restored by 13:45hrs, by which time the UAV must have run out of fuel. At this point, following the procedures, the aircraft was declared lost. An SMM patrol went to the last known location over which the UAV was flying on a field 1.5km south of the village, where the SMM was stopped by two armed “DPR” members, who denied the SMM further access to the area*. However, when looking towards the probable crash area, the SMM could observe burned patches on the ground.

    ...

    The SMM also revisited four “DPR” heavy weapons holding areas whose locations corresponded with the respective withdrawal lines. In two areas, it found that all previously recorded weapons were present. In the third area, the SMM observed five mortars (120mm PM-38) were missing. In the fourth area, the SMM observed that the serial numbers of three howitzers (122mm D-30) did not match the numbers previously recorded, and one anti-tank gun (100mm MT-12 Rapira) was missing. In a fifth area, the SMM was denied access*.

    In “DPR”-controlled Sontseve, the SMM observed a parked truck with an anti-aircraft gun mounted from 100m south from its position. Until the moment contact was lost between the UAV and its base, the UAV observed concentrations of military hardware in “DPR”-controlled areas close to the contact line: notably seven main battle tanks (MBTs), twenty-five armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and four multi-purpose light-armoured towing vehicles (MT-LBs) in and around Komsomolske (73km north-east of Mariupol), five self-propelled howitzers (2-S1 Gvozdika,122mm) and eleven APCs in and around Rozdolne (46km south-east of Donetsk), two MBTs in Michurine (55km north-east of Mariupol), and two MBTs in Bezimenne (30km east of Mariupol).

    In the report, Ukrainian military holding areas were in full compliance with the Minsk agreement.

    As we've been reporting, the jamming equipment seen in separatist territory in recent months was almost certainly supplied by the Russian military.


    The OSCE has not released a report from yesterday yet, but the Ukrainian military spokesperson, Colonel Andriy Lysenko, is still reporting sightings of enemy drones:

  14. #2054
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    More smuggling via the Russian mercenary crime bosses that now control the Donbas.

    Security Service of #Ukraine found cigarettes worth about 2 mln UAH in a truck from #Donetsk
    http://lugansk-news.com/security-ser...-from-donetsk/ … pic.twitter.com/lOOyPxG0DI

    There was, however, one deadly incident on the front line.

    Georgiy Tuka, the governor of the Lugansk region, announced on his Facebook page this morning that a 'combined mobile group,' patrolling the frontier to combat smugglers, had been attacked near Schastye.

    Two members of the patrol were killed and four wounded. One of the dead was a personal friend of the governor.


    Car of joint mobile group who was ambushed near Shchastya today (v @7w7w7w) pic.twitter.com/tbYvIPM4JI

    No suggestion was made in Tuka's post as to the identity of the attackers.

    On August 27, another 'mobile group' was attacked near Schastye. Their vehicle was damaged but there were no casualties.
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 09-02-2015 at 03:26 PM.

  15. #2055
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    Fascists in #Ukraine? Enemies in America? It’s staple fare on Russia’s state-controlled #TV. http://www.dw.com/en/behind-russias-...ine/a-18689297 … pic.twitter.com/9x987MCM1c
    15:46 Sep. 2, 2015

    DW: Behind Russia's TV propaganda machine

    Fascists in Ukraine, enemies in America: it's staple fare on Russia's state-controlled television

    When Angela Merkel, François Hollande and Petro Poroshenko met recently for talks in Berlin on the Ukraine's independence day, the 'Rossija' (Russia) channel opened its news broadcast with a man shouting "Poroshenko is a fascist" in Russian. It wasn't clear who the man was, but this type of thing is common on Russian TV these days, with its daily discussions about the supposed Ukrainian fascists. The cynical, critical tone of the piece was also typical of reporting about the Ukrainian president. The broadcaster was at pains to present Poroshenko as a guest of little importance. At the same time, the report criticized the fact that Putin had not been invited to the meeting.

    "According to the propaganda, the nationalists, ultranationalists and radicals are in power in Ukraine and are threatening the Russians in East Ukraine, that's why Russia is bound to defend them," said Russian public opinion researcher and sociologist Lev Gudkov in an interview with DW last year. But his statement is just as true today.

  16. #2056
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    Really good video of the first major UAF defeat in August 2014 inflicted on them by the Russian invasion forces that Obama, Hollande and Merkel appear to have ignored.

    VIDEO "Deathtrap Ilovaysk" (by German TV WDR) 44 min.....
    RU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggws...ature=youtu.be
    GER - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_6d2M6zun0

  17. #2057
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Fascists in #Ukraine? Enemies in America? It’s staple fare on Russia’s state-controlled #TV. http://www.dw.com/en/behind-russias-...ine/a-18689297 … pic.twitter.com/9x987MCM1c
    15:46 Sep. 2, 2015

    DW: Behind Russia's TV propaganda machine

    Russian media that sez Ukraine is filled with Nazis and "volunteers" denies Moscow even thinking about sending expeditionary force to Syria.

  18. #2058
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    Fallout, #Ukraine Deadly Munitions on Ukraine’s Battlefields" http://sofrep.com/42700/fallout-ukra...#ixzz3kacaQdHR … by @SOFREP pic.twitter.com/5AxlsgemVJ

    70% of Russians believe their country is not waging war in Ukraine, 72% are against direct military intervention in Donbass - Levada poll

  19. #2059
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    http://www.interpretermag.com/russia...-of-terrorism/

    Russia: The State Sponsor of Terrorism?

    Stephen Blank September 1, 2015

    Russia’s recent vote to block formation of a tribunal to investigate the shooting down of Malaysian Airline flights MH17 last year was entirely predictable. Undoubtedly a tribunal would have assigned guilt to Russia where it belongs, denting Mosco0w’s claim that it is responsible to nobody for its actions. But this vote also shows that Moscow remains a state sponsor of terrorism and not only in Ukraine. Since that vote The British government has assigned direct responsibility for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko to President Putin, and both the Russian and Western press have published reports that Russia is allowing homegrown terrorists to depart for Syria and Iraq so that they do not make trouble at home. Whatever Moscow’s motives, these are the actions of a state sponsor of terrorism.

    Neither are they the only examples of such behavior. Putin came to power through bombings in Russian cities in 1999 that strongly look like the handiwork of the FSB and which represented (and were so described at the time) acts of terror against the Russian population in Moscow and other cities. Litvinenko’s murder was hardly the only act of political assassination abroad carried out by Russian agents. Russian agents are permitted by Russian law to conduct such operations abroad and have carried out political “hits” in Doha, and even in the United States. Many political refugees in London also claim to have received death threats. Neither does Russian sponsorship of terrorism abroad stop at political assassinations. Former President Jose Mojica of Uruguay wrote in his memoirs that Hugo Chavez told him in 2008 that Putin gave his support for a war against Columbia, a US ally at that time. We should remember that in 2008 Viktor Bout, who enjoyed high-level political protection in Moscow, was convicted of running guns to the FARC rebels in Colombia, Igor Sechin and Nikolai Patrushev were traveling around Latin America calling openly for an anti-American alliance and intelligence cooperation among friendly pro-Moscow Latin American states, and Moscow was selling Chavez’s Venezuela billions of dollars in weapons.

    In the Middle East Moscow has been the main source for the sale of the chemical weapons that Bashar Assad (and his enemies) continue to use in their civil war despite the supposed removal of those weapons in 2013-14. Moscow also is a major if not the major purveyor of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon and has supplied them and Hamas weapons through Syria and Iran. Moscow still recognizes Hamas as a legitimately elected government despite its refusal to renounce its calls for the destruction of Israel and continuing terrorist bombings and operations against Israel. Indeed, in 2007 its ambassador to Israel, Andrei Demidov, stated that it is essential for Israel to talk with Hamas no matter what it does. But when asked about Russia’s refusal to talk with Chechen terrorists he stated that this is because the Chechen problem is an internal Russian one and “we decide how to settle the problem.” Moreover, in complete defiance of the facts, he claimed that Moscow has settled it by peaceful means and created a government, parliament, and judicial system there. He even recommended that Israel learn from Russia in this regard.

    Thus we should not be surprised that Moscow is allowing terrorists to move from Russia to Syria and Iraq so that it can export its terrorist problem abroad. But Moscow’s conduct in its anti-Jihadist counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus partakes of the same tactics that terrorists habitually employ. Thus Russian forces operating in the North Caucasus carry out most of the a abductions and kidnappings there, evidently with full impunity — actions which are essentially tantamount to state-sponsored terrorism. In Ukraine it is not only the shooting down of MH-17 that is grounds for labeling Rusisa a state sponsor of terrorism. Indeed, terrorism has been an important part of Moscow’s overall strategy in Ukraine. Thus Russian supported forces have carried out bombings in Odessa, Kharkiv, and other Ukrainian towns as part of the ongoing effort to destabilize the entire Ukraine.

    The sum total of all these activities, dating back to 1999 and Putin’s rise to power, show that terrorism is an accepted and habitually employed instrument of Russian power and strategy and that it is deployed at home and abroad in order to serve state interests. The record shows also that Russia, as befits an outlaw state, refuses to accept any legal or moral responsibility or constraints upon its actions and demands that it be free to act with impunity. Allowing international terrorism to flourish, whatever its origin, is a recipe for plunging the world into anarchy. We certainly have imposed sanctions on Iran and are fighting the Taliban, ISIS, etc as other states are also fighting other terrorist groups.

    Apart from the fact that Russia is clearly an international aggressor as far as Ukraine and Georgia are concerned, should we not also draw the other appropriate conclusion that Russia, like Iran, is a major sponsor of state terrorism at home and abroad and act accordingly to sanction it as we have sanctioned Iran and other terrorist groups?

  20. #2060
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    Humor---

    Novorossiya receives mobile church from Russia

    pic.twitter.com/sSq4bcu81X

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