War is a barbarous proceeding when we attack a peaceful neighbor, but it is a sacred duty when undertaken in defence of one’s country.
— Guy de Maupassant
Donetsk Region: Border Area
Last night terrorists tried to recapture Savur-Mohyla from the ATO forces. This elevation, mentioned earlier, is of strategic importance because it allows for control over a significant part of the border and is essential for the resupply of the ATO group that advances in the Dolzhanskyi direction. Furthermore, if the Russian Federation sends troops over the border from Kuibyshevo, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will present serious difficulties for such a maneuver utilizing the elevation of Savur-Mohyla. For this reason control of this hill has been strongly contests since the Ukrainian Armed forces seized the hill. Fighting over the hill is likely to continue until Ukrainian forces liberate Snizhne. The militants in Snizhne have a very convenient position for offensive operations in the area, operating from the `10th mine’; the waste bank of the mine allowing for examination and sweeping fire of Savur-Mohyla.
Donetsk Region: South of Donetsk City
Last night there was an attempt to draw the ATO forces into combat in the Donetsk-Volnovakha direction: the terrorists shelled a checkpoint of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard of Ukraine. It is likely that attacks in this direction will happen from time to time because this direction provides an outlet to Mariupol and further into Crimea by the sea. Given that the Starobesheve direction is more or less blocked, this direction remains one of the few options to fall back.
Donetsk Region: East of Donetsk/Torez area
Increased terrorist activity was observed in the Khartsyzk-Shakhtarsk area over the last 24 hours as well. The road that passes through these cities connects Donetsk with Krasnodon and the Russian Federation, and is a critical supply route for the DPR forces in Donesk. For this reason fighting in the Kharthsyzk-Zuhres-Shakhtarsk and Snizhne-Torez-Shakhtarsk areas will be frequent and intense, at least until the ATO forces consolidate in Shakhtarsk.
Donetsk Region: North of Donesk/Horlivka
Yesterday’s ATO’s offensive in the area of Krasnyi Partyzan (small settlement south west of Horlivka) was probably not expected by the terrorists. Thanks to this maneuver it was possible to solve the problem of breaching fortified area near Shumy head on (north of Horlivka), and attack Shumy from the direction of Krsnyi Partyzan towards the rear line of the fortifications along the railroad in Horlivka. It is at this stage that the terrorists threatened to blow up “Styrol” enterprise (the large ammonia factory) and filter stations with tanks of chlorine.
Furthermore, in order to secure the rears of the Ukrainian forces advancing towards Horlivka, there were several successful attacks in the direction of Avdiivka although the area has not yet been completely secured from terrorists units.
Luhansk Region
Heightened terrorist activity was observed in Alchevsk, which is situated along the main Donetsk/Luhansk motorway. Yesterday the militants introduced curfew restrictions. This is probably due to covert regrouping of the striking forces, similar to how it was done in Slovyansk and Kramatorsk where all main movements of militants occurred at night.
Terrorists also began to strengthen their position in settlements along the Krasnyi Luch-Debaltseve highway; in response to the ATO seizure of Delbatseve and the continued offensive in that area.
In addition, the terrorists started to strengthen their defensive positions in Rovenky which is also related to the capture of Savur-Mohyla by Ukrainian forces. Roveky has becomes a significant staging point, and essential to the militants preventing the complete encirclement of Luhansk by ATO, cut off the city from resupply from the Russian Federation (of Enslaved People). In the near future continuation of attacks towards Chervonopartyzansk and BCP Dolzhanskyi can be expected; this is similar to what happened of the night of the 28th.
Maneuvers from Russia and the Militants
In addition to the counterattack options explored above, we can expect provocative attacks from the direction of the Russian Federation, namely in the area of Kuibyshevo, Gukovo (towards Svedolovsk) and Novoshakhtinsk.
It is noteworthy that the border in the Krasnodon area of Luhansk region (Izvaryne, Sjevernyi, Popivka, Velykyi Sukhodil, Parkhomenko, Kruzhylivka) is almost completely open. That area is a quite large territory which is a significant gap in the state border. Therefore large terrorist groupings constantly filter through that gap from the Russian Federation.
Residents of Sukhodilsk (Krasnodon area of Luhansk region) constantly observe movement of Russian armored vehicles supplied to terrorists. In the village of Krasnodon (not to be confused with the adjacent city of the same name) in the territory of “Avtoagregat” factory, an accumulation of armored vehicles is observed. It is possible that the forces concentrated in that area are used as a reserve for reinforcement of militants. Another base of terrorist vehicles is located in the area of Orekhovska mine (Molodohvardiisk).
It has been noted that the Russian military constantly conducts reconnaissance missions with drones in the areas adjacent to the Black Sea (in particular, Odessa and Kherson regions). We constantly receive information about UAVs from local residents and security officials.
While out of the ATO zone, care should be taken in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions as there are considerable forces of the Russian military concentrated in the border areas.
International
In the international arena we observe strengthening of sectoral sanctions against the Russian Federation. For the past day the United States of America, Canada and the European Union continued pressure on the Russian Federation demanding to stop the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and withdraw the militants from the territory of Ukraine. Strengthening of the sanctions happened also because the Russian Federation and the terrorists forces under its control prevent investigation of the MH17 crash. In his speech, the President of the United States of America recalled that the images from the U.S. satellites confirmed the facts of aggression from the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the shelling of Ukrainian troops from the Russian territory.
The new sanctions isolate Russian banks from international capital markets, and prevent the Russian defense industry and the energy sector from being able to secure new western technologies.
Edited by Larry Field
- Русский: Антитеррористическая операция в Украине. Сводка за 29.07.14
- Українська: Антитерористична операція в Україні. Зведення за 29.07.14
- Deutsch: Anti-Terror-Operation in der Ukraine. Zusammenfassung für 29. Juli 2014
- Беларуская: АНТЫТЭРАРЫСТЫЧНАЯ АПЭРАЦЫЯ Ў УКРАІНЕ. ЗВОДКІ ЗА 29.07.2014
- Slovenský: Ukrajina. Protiteroristická operácia ukrajinských ozbrojených síl a zložiek. Situačný súhrn za deň 29.07.2014
3 Responses to “Anti-Terrorist Operation in Ukraine: Summary for July 29, 2014”
07/30/2014
Anti-Terrorist operation: Daily Summary, July 29, 2014 | EUROMAIDAN PRESS | News and Opinion from Across Ukraine[…] Source: burkonews.info […]
07/31/2014
Anti-Terrorist Operation in Ukraine: Summary for July 30, 2014 | BurkoNews.info[…] (NSDC) maps show almost complete encirclement of Luhansk from the south. However, yesterday we asked the question about Novosvetlivka and Novohannivka: these settlements are located along the highway […]
12/24/2015
Anti-Terrorist Operation in Ukraine: Summary for July 30, 2014 - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] (NSDC) maps show almost complete encirclement of Luhansk from the south. However, yesterday we asked the question about Novosvetlivka and Novohannivka: these settlements are located along the highway […]