Translated material
A fighting draw
Under Donetsk there are battles for control of the “gray zone”. Both parties use heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, and, it seems, do not intend to stop
The last day in the Avdeevka area (suburb of Donetsk), battles do not stop. There are losses on both sides. There are wounded and killed civilians. How did it all begin - and why is the next escalation of the conflict in the Donbass today?
There is the so -called “gray zone” between the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the positions of the LDNR units. The positions themselves are also located in the "gray zone". Between them there is a line of demarcation recorded by the OSCE officers following the results of Minsk-2. The shootings between each other’s positions are not uncommon, but everyday life, from position you have to follow the shot territory.
The next exacerbation began on December 19, 2016 on the so -called Svetlodar arc. Then the 54th Brigade of the Armed Forces went on the offensive and took new positions inside the “gray zone”. There were battles, losses and prisoners, both sides used heavy weapons: Rapier anti -tank guns, self -propelled artillery installations (self -propelled guns), tanks. The LPR folk police then said that the height was lost, for several days after that no one could go to the neutral zone to take the bodies of those killed in battle.
Later, in an interview with one of the Ukrainian publications, the military of the 54th brigade will say: “It is stable difficult, but we hold all positions-both old and new.”
On December 21, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (National Security and Defense Council) of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov visited the positions of the 54th brigade in the ATO zone. He confirmed in an interview with journalists that new positions were busy, “despite the constant shelling and attempts to break through our defense, the Ukrainian military courageously and professionally fulfilled their duty, stopping the enemy and inflicting significant losses to him. Our military counterattacked, advanced forward and took new positions that gave them an additional advantage in this defense sector. ”
On December 23, 2016 , the battalion of the Donbass-Ukraine battalion Vyacheslav Vlasenko wrote on Facebook that the Novoluganskoye settlement is now completely under their control.
“Well, hello, Svetlodar arc. Today, the Donbass Ukraine battalion has successfully carried out a daring operation to liberate the city of Novoluganskoye. Straightaway. Without loss. Hello, Separa, ”his message says.
The Novoluganskoye was in the "gray zone" and the guarantees that tomorrow it would not be controlled by the "DPR". Now the settlement is under the control of the Ukrainian military. In addition, according to the military themselves, no one violated anything, just aligned the line of contact. But at the same time it turned out that the "gray zone" was reduced, and this trend continued in the new year.
On December 27, 2016 , Alexander Turchinov, summing up the year, told reporters that in 2016, Ukraine did not lose territories in the east of the country for the first time, the Armed Forces improved its position, the Ukrainian army liberated the occupied territory, and 2017 will completely turn a turning point.
On January 22, 2017 , the Ukrainian army advanced 500 meters towards the city of Kadievka (Stakhanov) and took up the positions of the LPR national police. This special operation is called "Sukhumi." Control over height was necessary to advance the Armed Forces of Ukraine forward. According to the Ukrainian military, this height should be under their control in accordance with the Minsk agreements. When taking a height in the city of Kirovsk, which is under the control of the "LPR", civilians were injured. On January 27, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko awarded the Georgian legion officer Jabe Lelashvili for the successfully conducted combat operation. The special operation was really brilliant, because as a result, LPR militias lost control of the five -kilometer district.
On January 29, the first reports appear that battles began in the Avdeevka area. The battles were in the area of Avdeevka, an experienced, Kamyanka, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the onset of the beginning of the “DPR”, but later, having repulsed the attack, the Armed Forces went on a counterattack and repulsed two more positions.
In fact, the battles for the track between Donetsk and Gorlovka were preparing for a long time. If the Ukrainian military manages to take control of the route, Gorlovka (the city in the agglomeration of Donetsk) is almost isolation. The counterattack continued almost until Donetsk itself. At the same time, the use of heavy artillery began, both sides use tanks, self -propelled guns, “grades”.
In Avdeevka, a direct hit in the Koksochemical Plant led to the fact that the city was left without water, light and heat. In this regard, President Petro Poroshenko interrupted the official visit to Berlin and went to the scene, and Ukraine turned to the UN Security Council.
At the time of publication in Avdeevka, a coke -chemical plant was already working, heat supply was restored, but the energy supply was not restored. In Donetsk, in the last night, Petrovsky, Kuibyshevsky and Kiev districts were fired, also hits were in Makeevka. The Kyiv district of the city of Donetsk was for some time without electricity, mine them. Zasyadko, located in the same area, is completely de -energized, 207 miners left underground, who were urgently evacuated.
Also, without electricity, the village of Yakovlevka, under the control of the "DPR", was left.
In parallel with what is happening in the Avdeevka area, cross -fire in the Luhansk region has been going on for several days. Under the shelling, the porous and golden control of Ukraine, Pervomaisk and Irmino - under the control of the "LPR".
The press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said that "the independent detachments crossed the contact line with the support of artillery, and the Donbass militias had to rebuff in the Avdeevka area, they had to beat off the occupied territory."
“This invasion was suppressed,” Peskov concluded (quote for TASS).
It is quite obvious that full -scale military operations contradict both the spirit and the letter of the Minsk agreements. The next meeting of the contact group will be held in Minsk on February 3.