ATO Progress

During the past days terrorists switched to guerrilla tactics in the territory of th previously abandoned cities. Today we observed shooting in Slovyansk, near Molochar village and in Kramatorsk in the aerodrome area. Terrorists fired on the units of the ATO forces in Artemivsk. Provocations of militants in the area of Krasnyi Lyman continue.

Judging by the fact that terrorists occupy cities on the way to Donetsk (Mospyne, Ilovaisk, Popasna), they decided to stay there for a long time and prepare positions on the way to their main bases. Unlike Slovyansk, Donetsk is the city with population of over one million people and this is why the ATO forces will have to be much more careful and that without a doubt will drag out the conflict. However, there are no other options available at the moment.

Recall that on July 6 the commander of the National Guard Stepan Poltorak said that the Air Forces will not be used against Donetsk. Despite those statements and the official refutation by the ATO press center regarding today’s (July 8) incident with the firing of the administrative building of the mine #4-21 in Petrovsky district of Donetsk, Russian and some of Ukrainian media announced that the Air Forces of Ukraine bombed that building.

However, in the evening our team once again inquired the ATO forces after the incident and the answer was still the same: “Aviation was not used against Donetsk”.

The situation in Luhansk is also critical. Militants continue to build up their positions using their traditional schemes: they place their means of destruction in the territory of religious buildings, hospitals and educational institutions. It is worth noting that Luhansk is much closer to the state border than Slovyansk; consequently, delivery of “humanitarian aid” from the Russian Federation is much easier. Recall that the checkpoint in Izvaryne is still a flashpoint. According to Krasnodon residents, they hear constant shootings and mortar attacks.

As for our forecasts they have not changed. We are still waiting for active terrorist actions in Horlivka-Kramatorsk-Krasnyi Lyman and Lysyschansk-Krasnyi Lyman directions.

Information on Territorial Defense Battalions

“Azov”

Today we first noticed publicly available information that 12 fighters form Russia are fighting on the side of Ukrainian patriots from “Azov” battalion. We have known this for a long time but did not want to disclose that information in order to protect those Russian patriots from attention from FSB. But now that the information was is already available in other media there is no sense to hide it anymore. On the contrary, Russian citizens should pay attention that there are real Slavs and Russian patriots who understand the absurdity and bloodlust of Kremlin’s imperial pretensions.

The real and freedom-loving Russians will not point their weapons at fraternal Ukrainians but will fight along with them against banditry and terrorism delivered to Ukraine by the chief oligarch and corruptionist Vladimir Putin. We believe that it will not take much time before Mr. Putin receives a crushing blow from the Russian patriots who will definitely fling off the yoke of corruption, totalitarianism and terror in their land.

A true Russian patriot fights together with Ukrainians not only for them but also for his own will and honor. We think that soon the number of patriots fighting against the “Kremlin Junta” increases significantly.

“Aidar”

Terrorists attacked the “Aidar” battalion in Shchastya, Luhansk region. As a result of the attack one soldier of Aidar was killed.

“Donbas”

Battalion commander Semen Semenchenko notes the difficult situation in Artemivsk. He emphasizes that terrorists use all the tricks of guerrilla warfare. In particular they are inactive during the daytime and disguise themselves as ordinary people and in the dark they take weapons and try to attack position of Ukrainian military.

More Information on Cities

Donbas

In some cities in Donbas we note a strange tendency of terrorist to perform role-playing games and play in “World of tanks”: militants take away and hijack tanks of WWII from pedestals. In particular, militants hijacked just another museum piece from a park in Donetsk. In Druzhkivka they carried off a tank with a tractor. In Antratsyt they carried of a T-34 tank and moved it to the territory of the mechanical repair plant (more details can be found in this Twitter post). According to local residents, terrorists want to repair that tanks and use them in combats; if that fails, they are going to use them to strengthen their checkpoints.

Slovyansk

In the course of the business trip President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko visited Slovyansk, spoke with its residents and addressed a number of issues on the return of the city to the rhythms of a normal life.

Rubizhne

Terrorists shelled at the checkpoint in Varvarivka (near Rubizhne) for about an hour. They fired from mortars from the outskirts of a residential area. There is no information about the victims yet.

Kramatorsk

In the afternoon the center of the city was crowded enough, people communicated with Ukrainian servicemen, took photos, asked about mythical “banderivtsy”, rejoiced. However, some people of criminal look were quite sullen and resentful. Many people who left their homes because of tyranny of terrorists are now coming back to the city.

However, it is still far from complete calmness. At about 22:00 people heard gunfire and grenade explosions from the direction of the airport. Local residents advise to take and build up sniper and artillery positions on Melovaya Gora and behind Kuibyshev Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant. These points allow to control the center of the city and the roads from Druzhkivka, Serhiivka, Old City and villages in the direction towards Bilokuzmynivka. Ukrainian military should entrench positions in the aerodrome which is raided from time to time by terrorists.

Good news: according to preliminary data, Acting Chief of City Interior Ministry Department of Ukraine S.Zabor was suspended; we previously wrote about his criminal activity and support of terrorists.

Donetsk

A group of 30 armed militants broke into neurosurgical department of Kalinin hospital and occupied the first floor of the building. This news resounded even in the Russian TV report. Journalists of “Russia 24” first did not familiarize themselves with the situation and confirmed information that armed militants broke into the hospitals but then they realized that they had said something wrong and announced that armed men had come to protect patients. Thanks to their “protection” many civilians of Donetsk will be unable to get professional help in this hospital.

Also, terrorists siezed the explosives plant.

Luhansk

In the first half of the day a taxi with civilians in the area of “Proletariata Donbassa” block was shelled by terrorists. Shell fragments injured four people, two other passengers were killed. LPR militants continue to terrorize the city.

Residents of the city now meet Russian journalists with horror because they are associated with “harbingers of the apocalypse”: when they appear, terrorists start to shell residential areas to create yet another propagandistic images for Russian media.

International Developments

The most pressing issue of July 8 was trafficking to Russia of the officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Nadiia Savchenko, who had been previously captured by the terrorist armed groups operating in eastern Ukraine. She was kidnapped and moved to the investigatory isolation ward in Voronezh, Russia. Of course, Putin will keep on denying involvement of the Russian Federation into the events in Ukraine, however, for all sane people the fact that terrorists in Donbas have connections with government agencies in the Russian Federations is pretty obvious.

It is completely unclear on what basis the citizen of an independent state was taken to another country (kidnapped) and kept in custody. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, however, responded quickly in this situation. There are many questions to the Russian Federation and they all should be answered in international courts.

Russia continues to train reconnaissance sabotage group to transfer them to Ukraine. It is likely that their goal is further destabilization of the situation, assistance to terrorists and intensification of guerilla warfare in the rear of the Armed Forced and other military units of Ukraine.

Another telephone conversation between the President of the US, France and Russia was held on June 8. As a result, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande warned Vladimir Putin about tightening of sanctions against Russia in case he does not influence pro-Russian terrorists immediately and force them to the negotiating table.

The President signed the law which introduces a new article to the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article stipulates responsibility for funding separatism or seizure of power. Separatism will result in imprisonment for a term of 3 to 5 years, seizure of power — from 5 to 7 years.

Russian version: АТО. Сводка за 08.07.14 — факты, аналитика, прогнозы