Last week, the Republics of Donbass, despite the ongoing bombardments, began to implement a program of assistance to compatriots on the Kiev-controlled territory.
In the meantime, Kiev, having yielded to radical nationalists, suffered failure after failure, both military and material, and that of image.
On March 20, a relative lull establishes on the front line in Donbaыs, except for the south of the DPR, where the Ukrainian military make another attempt to break through the positions of the DPR army. The soldiers of the Republic repel the attack, improving their positions as a result.
As a result, the Ukrainian side loses 12 men killed and 14 wounded. In addition, the DPR soldiers destroy two Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles and damage one tank.
The bodies of the dead and wounded are thrown by the retreating Ukrainian military right at the position of the DPR army, which testifies to the offensive actions of the Ukrainian side. In addition, two bodies of the dead are mined.
Covering the retreat of their military, the Ukrainian army opens artillery fire on the forefront, under which come their retreating soldiers. The number of Kiev's losses during the retreat remains unknown.
A Ukrainian airplane is passing over Gorlovka, the largest city in the north of the DPR, at an altitude of about 1.000 meters, despite the full ban of flights in the zone of military operations in Donbass, as stipulated by the Minsk Agreements.
On the same day, at a meeting of the Regional Development Council in Kiev, President of Ukraine Poroshenko recognizes the defeat of Kiev in Donbass and accuses of it the «patriots» who started the blockade of Donbass.
The Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine has prepared a draft law on the complete prohibition of the Russian language in the country.
Meanwhile, the State Duma of the Russian Federation offers a full migration amnesty for residents of Donbass. At the moment, the documents of the DPR and LPR are equivalent to the Ukrainian ones in the territory of the Russian Federation, i.е. they give citizens of the Republics the right to stay on the Russian territory for no longer than 90 days.
On the border with Belarus, a jeep with Ukrainian number plate is trying to break through, at full speed, a border control point. Belarusian border guards are forced to open fire on the jeep, as a result of which its driver and one of the passengers are detained, and a considerable stock of weapons and explosives is found in the vehicle. Another passenger, who managed to escape, is put on the wanted list.
On March 21, at the Donetsk segment of the front arrives the «Right Sector» unit of female snipers, bearing the characteristic name «Witches» and already notorious in Donbass. Most of the snipers in it are foreigners.
In the south of the DPR, the Ukrainian military shell with MLRS «Grad» one of the localities, with representatives of Kiev media recording the shelling. Local residents report that the Ukrainian journalists are recording «the bombing by the DPR», fixing only hits and leaving behind the scenes the direction from which the shells are coming.
Meanwhile, the DPR starts paying benefits to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, living on the Kiev-controlled territory, and also claims equal rights of admission to universities of the Republic for applicants from the DPR and territories under Ukrainian control.
In Ukraine, President Poroshenko holds an urgent meeting with the leaders of parliamentary factions of the Verkhovnaya Rada due to the postponement of discussion in the IMF of another tranche allocation to Ukraine. The IMF explains the delay in the tranche allocation by the need to review the program of assistance to Ukraine, caused by the blockade of Donbass.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine declares that the government is considering the possibility of purchasing coal, supplies of which from Donbass is blocked by «patriots», in the US, Australia or South Africa.
On the same day, in western Ukraine, the Nazis severely beat the organizer of a round table on the problems of the national minorities in the region (Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Greeks). Arriving at the scene of the incident, the police handcuffs the victim and takes him to hospital.
The European Commission expresses a strong protest in connection with the incident. You can not help wondering where the European Commission and its resolute protest were in April 2014, when in the center of Kiev, a crowd of Nazis beat almost to death a presidential candidate, Oleg Tsarev, solely for his open support for the idea of federalization of the country.
On March 22, in the DPR, the Ukrainian side severely shells the northern outskirts of Donetsk. During the shelling, a 23-year-old mother shields with her body her 3-month-old baby, and is taken to hospital with multiple shrapnel wounds.
In addition, for the first time during the war, under the Ukrainian artillery fire comes a village in the south of the Republic, which results in a damaged kindergarten, school, several houses, power lines and gas pipeline.
The DPR military authorities makes an official statement that the biochemical analysis of the blood of the Ukrainian soldiers killed during the breakthrough attempt on March 20, showed the presence of narcotic and psychotropic substances in their system.
The LPR intelligence reports that, due to the introduction of a system of fines for violations of the military service code in the Ukrainian army, officers massively terminate contracts for military service, as a result of which the Defense Ministry of Ukraine urgently organizes 3-month officer courses for sergeants on the basis of military educational institutions of the country.
On the same day, the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine adopts an appeal to the US Congress with a request to grant Kiev the status of the main ally outside NATO and conclude a defense agreement with it.
The «Naftogaz» of Ukraine declares bankruptcy, in case of a loss to the Russian «Gazprom» in the Stockholm court, and a claim to the part of the «Nord Stream», in case they win the trial.
In Kiev, the Nazis of the «Azov», who blocked one of the branches of the Russian «Sberbank: subsidiaries last week, openly announce in a social network a master class on knife fighting - right in the street near the bank branch, in the center of the capital and in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister, Zsolt Shemyin accuses Ukraine of trying to assimilate the Hungarians of Transcarpathia and demands the creation of Hungarian autonomy within the places of their compact residence in western Ukraine.
On March 23, in Balakleya, the Kharkov region, at the largest in Ukraine ammunition depot, containing 138,000 tons of ammunition, a fire breaks out, which leads to the detonation of shells.
The size of the arsenal is comparable to the size of the Balakleya town itself, with a population of 30,000 people. About 20,000 people are evacuated from the town, most of them leaving the danger zone in their own vehicles and on foot, as the authorities have provided no more than 100 buses for evacuation.
The entrance to the town is closed, the passenger railway service is stopped, the air space above the fire zone is blocked within a radius of 50 km, a 7-km exclusion zone is declared around the town, which is then increased to 40 km.
In addition, the transportation of gas from Russia to Europe is redirected, and the State Border Service of Ukraine strengthens the protection of the eastern section of the border with Russia.
Detonating shells scatter within a radius of several kilometers. Later, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine announces 243 buildings damaged of varying degrees, including 117 apartment buildings, 87 private houses, 12 social facilities and 22 infrastructure and industrial facilities. Local residents report a much larger scale of destruction.
On the same day, in the center of Kiev is shot a former State Duma MP, Voronenkov, who testified in a criminal case against the former Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych. His murderer is wounded by the former MP’s guard and dies in hospital on the operating table. Among the documents of the murderer, a certificate of the ATU participant was found. The personality of the murderer and his service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine are confirmed later by his mother.
The National Bank of Ukraine introduces sanctions against subsidiaries of Russian banks.
Meanwhile, the UN representative, during a meeting with the chairman of the Verkhovnaya Rada Committee on Social Policy, raises the issue of the difficulties that the DPR citizens meet while trying to receive their pensions on the Kiev-controlled territory.
Two days later, the Ukrainian Pension Fund announces the termination of pension payments to all citizens of Ukraine via subsidiaries of Russian banks.
On March 24, in the LPR, the Ukrainian side shells one of the localities with phosphorous shells. The fact of the shelling is documented by the JCCC (Joint Center for Coordination and Control) and OSCE observers.
In Mariupol, the Kiev-controlled largest city in the south of Donbass, local residents report on explosions audible all over the city. The Ukrainian army command declares the planned disposal of ammunition.
On the same day, in Mariupol, a Ukrainian court sentences a female pensioner to two years in prison for ‘cooperation with the separatists’.
Meanwhile, Kiev appeals to NATO for help in eliminating the consequences of the fire and explosions in Balakleya.
A radical MP calls from the rostrum of the Verkhovnaya Rada to help terrorists in Chechnya, who made an attack on a military unit of the Russian army the day before, responsibility for which was taken by ISIS (a radical organization banned in Russia). According to the MP, the assistance to Chechen terrorists will help Ukraine ‘gain a victory over the Kremlin’.
Also in Kiev, about 1,000 people picket the CEC building, demanding early presidential and parliamentary elections. The CEC building is heavily guarded by the National Guard and police forces.
In western Ukraine, the radicals of the nationalist battalion «Aydar" attack about 30 supporters of the «Successful Country» party, mostly women and the elderly, and keep them hostage, without any explanation, for about 6 hours.
On March 25, the Ukrainian army increases the number of attacks in the southern, Mariupol direction at the Donetsk segment of the front.
In the same region, for refusing ‘financial assistance to the defenders’, the Ukrainian military severely beat a civilian who is taken to hospital with multiple injuries.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian foreign minister announces that, in view of Russia's preparations for a massive invasion, official Kiev is negotiating with the allies for military assistance.
On the same day, by the personal permission of the President of Ukraine, NATO military arrive at the territory of the arsenal in Balakleya, where the shells continue to explode.
In Kiev, a former SBU spokesman announces the possibility of the seizure of a Ukrainian NPP by radicals - of course, ‘according to the plan of the Kremlin’.
The Internet resistance to the Kiev regime publishes the correspondence between the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine and a MP of the presidential faction in the Verkhovnaya Rada, which says that hundreds of Ukrainian radicals have been sent to Belarus to organize mass riots during the protests of the Belarusian opposition.
In Ukraine, nationalists require the performance of songs during the Eurovision exclusively in Ukrainian.
On March 26, residents of Mariupol report that the Ukrainian military buy civilian clothes en mass, intending, in case of an offensive by the DPR army, to get lost among civilians.
In addition, according to the DPR intelligence, the Ukrainian Marines unit, the most capable in the Mariupol direction, is manned by 73%, with the vast majority of Marines not willing to renew the contract for military service, which may result in the unit manned only by 20% in April or May 2017.
Meanwhile, a number of publications inform that the radiation background in Balakleya has significantly increased as a result of the explosion of shells filled with depleted uranium, which were stored in the arsenal. The Kiev authorities urge the media not to spread panic, and declare such publications a provocation.
In the ATO area, security measures are tightened - a system of passwords is introduced, and anti-aircraft guns and boxes of sand are installed at checkpoints.
Nevertheless, on the same day, next to Kiev-controlled Kramatorsk, a military helicopter MI-2 crashes, presumably as a result of a collision with a power transmission line. Three crew members and two passengers of the helicopter die.
Tightening of security measures does not either work in Mariupol, where, according to eyewitnesses, grenades and mines fall out of a moving military vehicle directly into the street.
And yet, on the same day, the Canadian Parliament registers a petition calling for the arming of Ukraine with lethal weapons.
Almost 100 years ago, in April 1918, Ukrainian nationalists led by Hetman Skoropadsky, overthrew the first Ukrainian parliament and eliminated the first Ukrainian Republic proclaimed immediately after the October Revolution in St. Petersburg.
They sought not to prevent Kiev from being taken by the Red Army which moved from the east, from Donbass, from Donetsk-Krivoy Rog republic, the successor to which the DPR declared itself. For this purpose, the Ukrainian nationalists called for German troops which, by May 1918, completely occupied the territory of the Donbass republic. The occupation lasted until January 1919. T
he analogy is obvious. Now the Ukrainian nationalists, who have captured almost the whole of Ukraine but have not been able to either conquer Donbass or finally suppress the South-East, again demand the entry of foreign troops into the country's territory. Having been refused the UN armed mission, then that of the OSCE, now they are calling for NATO assistance - at any cost, down to blackmail with seizures of nuclear power plants and explosions on the gas pipeline.
- Ukraine-Controlled Localities Bombed by Kiev - Ukrainian Local Councils Seized by Nationalists - Memory of Killed Children of Donbass Shot by Ukrainian Military
- Mariupol Rescue Fund Creation in DPR - A Call to Ukrainians to Sever Ties with Russia - Nazis' Threat of «Night of Long Knives» for Opposition
- Nazis’ Provocation in Avdeevka - Ban on Russian Social Networks in Ukraine - Ukrainian Laws on Elimination of Moscow Patriarchate Church