Ukraine mourns fallen soldiers amid uptick in Kremlin’s Donbas war

06.02.2017, 18:01

Hundreds of mourners came to Independence Square on February 1 to honor seven soldiers from the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade who died defending Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast from repeated Russian onslaughts this week.

A day after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, over the phone, combined Russian-separatist forces on January 29 launched attacks along most of the 450-kilometer front line in eastern Ukraine. Fighting continues as of February 1, marking an escalation in hostilities not seen in months.

Heavy artillery barrages and ground assaults were centered mostly on Avdiyivka. A town of about 16,000 people, it’s located some 24 kilometers north of Russia-occupied Donetsk, and is home to Europe’s biggest coking coal production plant.

The seven servicemen were killed on January 29-30. Rows of stolid-faced soldiers stood on the Maidan holding carnations in their bare hands in freezing temperatures. Some eventually couldn’t restrain their emotions and started weeping. Hundreds knelt on one knee during a prayer to show respect for the fallen.

“They [the soldiers] protected us, all who stand here today, with their backs, they protected a peaceful city… They gave up the most valuable thing they possessed, they gave up their lives,” said Olena Mokrenchuk, spokesperson for the 72nd Brigade, on the stage during the afternoon memorial.

One more soldier fell on January 31, bringing the number killed in action for January to 20, and an additional 117 wounded. Two more soldiers were killed on February 1, and six were wounded in action that day. As The Weekly went to press, the total number of soldiers killed in the Russian assault that began on January 29 stood at 10.

Kyiv blamed Moscow for instigating the escalation. Meanwhile, a U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – the 57-state body whose Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine is tasked with ascertaining implementation of a ceasefire accord – called on “Russia to stop the violence, honor the ceasefire, withdraw heavy weapons, and end attempts to seize new territory beyond the line of contact.”

Moscow and its proxies, in turn, blamed Kyiv for the hostilities, while President Petro Poroshenko called the latest Russian assault an act of “barbarism” as he prematurely left Berlin during an official trip to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other officials.

Kyiv has been concerned about whether Mr. Trump will rescind restrictive measures imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine and might recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea in exchange for cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Little is known about what aspects of Ukraine the two heads of state discussed, and The Washington Post noted in an editorial published on January 31 that Mr. Trump called Ukraine a “tough issue.”

The State Department said that it “was deeply concerned with the recent spike in violence,” whereas Mr. Trump and his spokesperson, Sean Spicer, haven’t released any public statements.

The latest escalation in the nearly three-year-old Russian-engineered war exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia, where 80 percent of the 1.7 million registered internally displaced people live.

Damage to infrastructure, in particular electricity lines, a water filtration station and the coking coal plant, has severely limited access to heat, power and water for 400,000 people in the Avdiyivka-Yasynuvata area amid sub-zero temperatures. The Avdiyivka coke plant provides heat to Avdiyivka.

Approximately 16,000 residents of Avdiyivka, including 2,500 children, are in need of immediate assistance, emergency services reported. Ukrainian authorities, together with the Red Cross and Catholic charity group Caritas have set up heated tents and portable kitchens, and are providing other relief services in the area.

Donetsk police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said the Russian separatists were deliberately targeting civilian areas in Avdiyivka and nearby Krasnohorivka. At least two civilians have been killed in shelling and 26 homes were destroyed just in Avdiyivka in the last four days, according to Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov.

“Such action of the Kremlin may qualify as a war crime, a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, an unlawful, wanton and extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity,” Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

It was only as of 2 p.m. on February 1 that infrastructure repair work started, the Defense Ministry reported, citing a truce that was brokered through the OSCE’s joint coordination center for ceasefire monitoring, and which includes Russian and Ukrainian military officers.

About 175 Avdiyivka residents, mostly children and their parents, have already been evacuated from the frontline town, the State Emergency Service said the same day.

In the past four days, Ukrainian troops have faced heavy artillery, mortar and tank fire before ground assaults, usually by 30- to 40-man groups, commenced. According to the U.S. Mission to the OSCE, in its daily reports on monitoring the non-existent ceasefire, the OSCE said it lost count on January 29 when the attacks surpassed 2,300 “violations.” On January 30, “explosions” reached 2,499, a daily OSCE monitoring report stated. By the evening of February 1, the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission was reporting that a significant increase in ceasefire violations, including over 10,330 “explosions,” had been recorded on January 30-31

Three enemy troops were taken prisoner during the heavy fighting. Two subsequently died of their wounds, while the one who survived, who is from Makiyivka, a suburb of Donetsk, was handed over to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Additional elite police units were sent to the frontline town to provide security.

Russia’s attacks coincided with Ukraine taking over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for February.

“The Ukrainian Mission to the U.N. is already taking advantage by setting a hearing on February 2 to discuss the military escalation in the Donbas region,” the Kyiv-based investment bank Concorde Capital said in a note. “The Security Council also issued a January 31 statement at Ukraine’s request, expressing its grave concern about the dangerous situation and severe consequences for the local civilian population. The statement condemned the use of armaments forbidden by the Minsk accords, which led to deaths and injuries among civilians.”

Another local bank investment bank, Dragon Capital, said, “this latest episode, which was provoked by the Russian-backed separatists, is not fully clear at the moment, but the level of response from Ukrainian authorities, with talk of escalation to the U.N. Security Council, further demonstrates this has been some of the worst fighting of late, with possible wider repercussions.”

A resident of the frontline town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast stands amid rubble on January 27 after combined Russian-separatist forces shelled the area with heavy artillery.

A resident of the frontline town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast stands amid rubble on January 27 after combined Russian-separatist forces shelled the area with heavy artillery.

Mark Raczkiewycz

6 February 2017 The Ukrainian Weekly