Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[CountDeMoney]

Beets, eggplants and slavs fail at memes.

[Syt]

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-troop-movements-ceasefire/26553037.html

U.S.: Reports Indicate 'Russian-Directed' Battle In Ukraine

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says reports from eastern and southeastern Ukraine "indicate that a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely under way" against government forces in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Psaki said on August 27 that the reports include descriptions of "columns of Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers, and armored vehicles pushing toward communities in southeastern Ukraine."

She said they also include reports of "heavy fighting and shelling near the city and airport in Donetsk."

Psaki said Washington was "concerned by the Russian government's unwillingness to tell the truth, even as its soldiers are found 30 miles [50 kilometers] inside Ukraine" -- adding that "Russia is sending its young men into Ukraine but are not telling them where they are going or telling their parents what they are doing."

She also noted "reports of wounded Russian soldiers in a St. Petersburg hospital, and that other Russian soldiers are returning home to Russia for burial."

"These are not steps that certainly you take when you are operating in a transparent manner," she concluded.

Fighting On Southern Front

Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko announced on August 27 that reinforcements were being sent to the town of Novoazovsk, on the Sea of Azov about 10 kilometers from the Russian border, after the local mayor said pro-Russian fighters entered the town with support from dozens of armored vehicles.

Reports from correspondents in the area on August 27, as well as messages on social media by pro-government Ukrainian fighters, said government forces had abandoned all of their checkpoints on the main road linking the separatist-held city of Donetsk to Novoazovsk.

The developments come two days after  Lysenko claimed Russian tanks invaded southeastern Ukraine disguised as pro-Russian separatist fighters.

Lysenko said Russian artillery was continuing to support the battle on August 27 by firing across the border from Russian territory.

He also said a Russian "tactical battalion" -- a battlefield command-and-control unit -- was positioned on August 27 near Novoazovsk at the Ukrainian village of Pobeda.

Moscow denies sending troops into Ukraine, claiming Russian paratroopers captured by Ukrainian forces in recent days had "inadvertently" crossed the border.

Poroshenko: Minsk Talks 'Very Effective'

The latest allegations of Russian troop activity within Ukraine come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Minsk that Moscow will "do everything to support" a peace process in Ukraine "if it starts."

Poroshenko promised to draft a new cease-fire plan after his face-to-face talks with Putin, which came after a summit in Minsk that included EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazabaev, and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Poroshenko said in Kyiv on August 27 that the talks in Minsk were "very effective."

He told a meeting of his Solidarity Party, which has been renamed the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, that he "clearly stressed there will be no bargaining over sovereignty, territorial integrity, the independence of our country, [or] the sovereign choice of the Ukrainian people and their European choice."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on August 27 that Russia was not interested in breaking up Ukraine despite respecting declarations of independence by separatists in eastern Ukraine.

But in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament that "no one can take seriously" Russia's claims that it is not supporting the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 27, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the reports of the presence of Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine "must be explained," her spokesperson said.

Merkel also emphasized Russia's "major responsibility for de-escalation and watching over its own frontiers."

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on August 27 that claims about an upsurge in Russian military activity on the border with Ukraine have "nothing to do with the reality."

Peskov added that Russia was ready to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine "even tomorrow."

An earlier convoy entered Ukrainian territory last week without Kyiv's permission, raising tensions between the West and Moscow.

Peskov also said Russia is and will be a reliable supplier of natural gas to Europe, following warnings from Kyiv that Moscow could cut off fuel to the continent this winter.

"We hope that Ukraine in turn will guarantee unhindered transit," he added.

Russian Troops In Ukraine

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) held a press conference where it presented a group of Russian soldiers captured earlier this week after they crossed the border from Russia into Ukraine.

One soldier, identified as Corporal Ivan Romantsev, said the soldiers had not realized they had crossed the border into Ukraine.

He told journalists that what is being shown on Russian television "is completely different from what is really happening."

Ukraine's military first released a video showing the captured soldiers on August 26.

Russian Defense Ministry officials admitted on August 26 that Russian soldiers had crossed into Ukrainian territory but said they had accidentally crossed an unmarked section of the border.

The Associated Press news agency quoted the Finnish Foreign Ministry as saying the United States and Russia held secret talks on the Ukraine crisis in Finland in June.

Ministry spokesman Vesa Hakkinen said the ministry helped organize the meeting but declined to give more information.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on August 27 denied reports of secret talks, saying the meeting involved only representatives from nongovernmental organizations and academic communities and did not involve official state diplomatic contacts.

According to the United Nations, more than 2,000 people have died since April in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

What I find frustrating is that for all reports from Ukrainians that Russia has troops inside its borders there's so little tangible proof.

[Syt]

Expert says T-72 in Separatist column is variant only in use by Russian Army, never exported:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28961080


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28949582

Russian reporters 'attacked at secret soldier burials'

Russian journalists say they have been attacked while investigating reports that soldiers were secretly buried after being killed in Ukraine.

The paratroopers were buried in a village near the western city of Pskov, where they were based.

What appears to be fresh graves of the killed paratroopers were first spotted in the village by Pskovskaya Guberniya, a local newspaper.

Its journalists say they were attacked at the cemetery.

Ukrainian government officials accuse the Kremlin of helping separatists in eastern Ukraine by sending in military hardware and troops, many of them via the southern region of Rostov.

Russia denies the claims. Asked about allegations of Russian soldiers being involved in fighting in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference on Tuesday that they amounted to "disinformation".

"Reporting this is really dangerous," one of the Pskov journalists told the BBC.

Later, two Moscow-based reporters visited the village to investigate the reports.

Vladimir Romensky and Ilya Vasyunin say they were approached by two men who told them that they would "never be found" unless they boarded the next train back to Moscow.

Ignoring the threats, the two visited the local cemetery where the soldiers' graves had reportedly been found.

There, their car was attacked by two men, who pelted it with stones and slashed its tyres. Independent Dozhd TV, for which Mr Romensky works, later posted footage of the attack.

Also in the car were two other journalists who claim that while attempting to visit the cemetery earlier in the day they had been forced into a van and taken to a forest.

Their abductors erased memory cards from their cameras and threatened to kill them should they make the incident public, says one of the reporters, Nina Petlyanova.

Sergei Kovalchenko from Telegraf news agency is another journalist who says he was threatened. He said his memory card was erased by plain-clothed men while visiting the cemetery.

Dozhd TV later said name plates and wreaths had been removed from the graves.

'Classified'

There has been no official confirmation of the deaths of paratroopers allegedly buried outside Pskov.

However, a military official in Voronezh, a city close to the border with eastern Ukraine, says that an elite airborne platoon commander from Pskov, Anton Korolenko, has been buried there.

He died on 19 August "while carrying out his duties", the official told local news agency RIA Voronezh, declining to give details. The platoon commander's relatives also refuse to reveal how he died, saying that this information was "classified".

A little later, Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala posted photographs of what he said was an armoured personnel carrier seized from the Pskov paratroopers, as well as paperwork and IDs found inside.

Last week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pskov amid speculation that his trip was related to the local troops' deaths in Ukraine.

Earlier, President Vladimir Putin awarded an Order of Suvorov to the Pskov-based 76th airborne division, where Anton Korolenko served, for "bravery and heroism" while performing unspecified tasks.

Reports from Russia also indicate that there has been a sudden and unexplained upsurge in the number of killed or wounded military servicemen.

On Tuesday, Russia's presidential human rights council said about 100 wounded servicemen had been airlifted to a military hospital in St Petersburg for treatment. Nine soldiers were killed at a training range in Rostov region, it said.

Military hospitals in Rostov region and southern Russia were "overflowing", a council spokeswoman said.

[Viking]

Text says:
Fistfight at the Minsk summit
... and that's for the Malaysian Boeing

times like this I wish Klitchko had become president.

[Syt]

Vienna. The European security body OSCE will hold a special meeting Thursday to discuss developments in conflict-torn Ukraine, following reports of Russian troops on the ground there, the US mission to the organisation said, AFP reported.

"Russia violations in Ukraine to top agenda at extraordinary meet of OSCE delegations at 11:00 CET (0900 GMT) today in Vienna," the US mission said in a tweet.

[Syt]

Separatists claim they have 3-4,000 Russian volunteers fighting among their ranks, including "Russian soldiers currently on leave."

[Tamas]

This is sure a war of freak random incidents, like how yesterday the separatists captured a town in the area Russian soldiers have been getting lost while totally travelling from one point of Russia to the next.

[Syt]

At the very least this conduct by Russia is worrying. False flag/no flag operations in Crimea, "covert" interventions in Ukraine with all kinds of excuses (soldiers on leave, getting lost on patrol) while soldiers are brought to Russia for treatment/burial ... I wonder how they react once irrefutable proof is produced that active units of theirs are fighting in Ukraine.

[Tamas]

At the very least this conduct by Russia is worrying. False flag/no flag operations in Crimea, "covert" interventions in Ukraine with all kinds of excuses (soldiers on leave, getting lost on patrol) while soldiers are brought to Russia for treatment/burial ... I wonder how they react once irrefutable proof is produced that active units of theirs are fighting in Ukraine.

There have been countless proofs already. They just ignore it and play dumb. I mean, everyone knows its them. The Russian citizens supporting Putin know best. But until they do not admit it, it is not admitted. And as long as they don't admit it, Ukraine is fighting with her arms tied behind her back.

And this is not going to change because Russia has thousands of nuclear warheads.

[jimmy olsen]

Is Russia going to nuke Kiev if the Ukranians fire back at Russian artillery across the border, don't think so. So how is their thousands of nuclear weapons relevant?

[Syt]

Meanwhile in La-La-Land:

http://rt.com/news/183268-nato-russia-border-forces/

NATO formations on Russian borders will impact Moscow's decision-making – envoy

Following NATO's aggressive military posturing in Eastern Europe, Russian envoy to the alliance warned that the "configuration and activity" of its forces will impact how Russia proceeds with its own security planning and considerations.

"Obviously, we will take into consideration the configuration and activity of the NATO forces at the Russian borders in our military planning, and will take all that is necessary to reliably provide security and to ensure safety against any threats," Russian media quoted Aleksandr Grushko citing Interfax news agency.

The statement by the Russian envoy follows on from the Cold War military alliance's intention to put up more bases in Eastern Europe and the Baltic in order to counter an 'overt' Russian threat – despite objections from a number of NATO members.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen nonetheless said the 26-nation bloc will attempt to overcome the objections.

"We have something already called the NATO response force, whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed," he said in a statement to the European press. "Now it's our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very high readiness. In order to be able to provide such rapid reinforcements you also need some reception facilities in host nations. So it will involve the pre-positioning of supplies, of equipment, preparation of infrastructure, bases [and] headquarters."

READ MORE: NATO chief eyes more bases in E. Europe to confront Russia

In early August, Moscow accused the US of twisting facts in order to provide a pretext for its own accusations of Russia violating one of the key tenets of the landmark Cold-War INF treaty – the testing of a cruise missile. No specifics have been given to date – only that Russia is violating the rules. This at a time the US was building its own "target practice missiles" similar to the ones in question, as well as drones, which equally violate the INF Treaty, the 1987 document concerning intermediate-range nuclear armaments.

READ MORE: 'Lies, hypocrisy, propaganda': Russia slams US over claims of nuclear treaty violations

Reacting to NATO's fresh plans for expansion into the east, Grushko told journalists that Russia has always shown a readiness for open dialogue with the United States on a whole spectrum of issues of non-proliferation and arms control, including those of the treaty.

"Our own strong disagreement with the alliance's violations of the treaty should also be taken into consideration," he said, mentioning the West's own target-practice missiles, as well as the production of unmanned fighter aircraft, which also fall within the bounds of a land-based cruise missile category. He also highlighted the building of MK-41 systems in Poland and Romania, capable of launching mid-range missiles.

When Rasmussen was earlier asked about the prospect of NATO's permanent presence in Eastern Europe, he said "the brief answer is 'yes'... for as long as necessary."

The bloc's further militarization of the Eastern European region does not sit well with Moscow, which since the collapse of the Soviet Union had been given pledges that NATO would not expand further east.

[Tamas]

Is Russia going to nuke Kiev if the Ukranians fire back at Russian artillery across the border, don't think so. So how is their thousands of nuclear weapons relevant?

No it means nobody will REALLY try to call them on their bullshit and risk getting involved.

And Ukraine clearly attacking Russian soil while officially the Russians are not in Ukraine is exactly what Russia wants. That would in their translation posture Ukraine as the aggressor and they would be free to move in.

Although I am more and more convinced that Putin only wants chaos in Ukraine until he can re-establish vassal state status.

[Syt]

Love the response from Putin's press puppet about allegations of paratrooper burials:

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/746987

NOVO-OGARYOVO, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - The rumours of funerals of allegedly Russian paratroopers in a number of cities require further checks, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"Certainly, this information is being checked by the agencies concerned," Peskov said in reply to a question.

"This information needs detailed verification before any conclusions can be made."

However, he said he was not sure that an inquiry was already underway. "I don't know for sure," he said.

Also he said, that claims about an upsurge in Russian military activity on the border with Ukraine have nothing to do with the reality.

He added that statements by certain sources about an alleged military build-up were not new.

"Such speculations are uttered regularly. Russia regularly refutes these claims, they have nothing to do with the reality," Peskov said.

Translation: "Yeah, perhaps we could look into that. Maybe. No promises."

[Syt]

Russia denies everything.

http://rt.com/news/183356-russia-poroshenko-invasion-ukraine/

Kiev accuses Russia of 'bringing troops' to Ukraine, no proof offered

The chorus of allegations about a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has President Poroshenko calling for an emergency meeting of the country's security and defense council, while the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is calling for a Russian asset freeze.

"I have made a decision to cancel my working visit to the Republic of Turkey due to sharp aggravation of the situation in Donetsk region, particularly in Amvrosiivka and Starobeshevo, as Russian troops were brought into Ukraine," Petro Poroshenko said in a statement on his website.

The Russian representative to the OSCE Andrey Kelin has given a firm response to the allegations, saying that "We have said that no Russian involvement has been spotted, there are no soldiers or equipment."

"Accusations relating to convoys of armored personnel carriers have been heard during the past week and the week before that," he said. "All of them were proven false back then, and is being proven false again now."

"There is no sense in these accusations," he said.

Yet, Ukraine is going to call for a meeting of the UN Security Council, said Poroshenko.

"The world must provide assessment of sharp aggravation of the situation in Ukraine," he added.

Poroshenko added that on Thursday there will be a meeting of Security and Defense Council to elaborate the plan for further action.

"The President must stay in Kyiv today," he said.

As with previous allegations of smuggled troops, equipment and other underhand tactics, no evidence has been offered.

Given the confusion arising out of the recent capture of alleged Russian paratroopers and the subsequent videos with interviews released by the Ukrainians, the government is going to the US, EU and the G7 to ask for a freeze on Russian assets.

Meanwhile, the OSCE has announced that it's calling an emergency meeting in Vienna – for the second time in August – giving no further details.

Yet when the head of its Ukraine mission, Paul Picard, was asked if the monitoring team saw any evidence of Russia crossing the border with troops and tanks, the answer was "no." He told journalists of round-the-clock surveillance by a team of 16 people. The team said "we are hearing shooting, but it's difficult to tell just how far."

This didn't stop the Ukrainian government from alleging that the border town of Novoazovsky in the south-east has fallen under Russian control – a mix of troops and members of the eastern-Ukrainian uprising.

"We only know that the mayor of Novoazovsk said that after 10 rounds of artillery were heard, the Ukrainian soldiers retreated from the city, and the self-defense forces entered," Kelin said.

He added that "the Ukrainian ambassador has offered no claims to counter this information."

[CountDeMoney]

Meanwhile in La-La-Land:

What exactly is it that you want NATO to do, as this is not necessarily a NATO issue?