Brothers and sisters!
Here’s the Summary for August 18, 2014 (for previous summary, please see Summary for August 15).
The bad news:
1. During a withdrawal of refugees from the settlements of Khryashchuvate and Novosvitlivka near Luhansk, insurgents struck the convoy with a massive attack of mortars and “Grads.” The convoy was moving under white flags, but this did not save it from almost total destruction. Dozens of civilians, many [of them] children were killed.
We are accustomed to the fact that the insurgents deliberately fire at the houses of local residents, at [combat] ambulances with the wounded, and use peaceful civilians as human shields. But today’s occurrence is the apotheosis of savagery and villainy. This is the very essence of terrorism under the Russian flag.
… And some still manage to call these creatures “militias.” It is not surprising that, according to the results of a poll published today, the majority of Ukrainians–55%–believe that it is necessary to continue the ATO [even] further. Rabid animals can only be destroyed, so as to convince them that something is meaningless.
Live interactive map (go to link), Khryashchuvate and Novosvitlivka are noted above the white cross. Source: LiveUAMap2. Not for nothing does Putin save his miscarriages of “The Russian World” in Donbas, in the last few days he has been throwing all the new swarms of mercenaries and columns of military equipment here. This immediately affected the course of the ATO–and not for the best outcome for us.
The insurgents have sharply increased counterattacks in many directions. From the vicinity of the settlement of Snizhne, their groups went fighting towards Stepanivkaand Marynivka; there are constant attacks on our positions in the area of Savur-Mohyla. Fierce fighting is currently underway for the settlements of Yasynuvata, Makiivka, Zhdanivka, and others. And during this time, the Kremlin keeps throwing in more new “Grads” to the border…
3. And again about the “humanitarian aid” from Russia. During the discussion of the issue of its entry into the Ukrainian territory, everything seemed to have been taken into account: the imported cargo will be physically inspected, and in theory nothing but food will be left for the little fighters.
But there is another factor [here]–Russia’s very own trucks, painted from the heart in the “peaceful” white [color]. Considering that they will be traveling on territory controlled by terrorists, the question arises: what is the procedure for their withdrawal back to Russia? Remaining in Donbas, they can become a great cover for blocking the actions of the ATO forces in separate directions. Since it’s obvious that the Ukrainian troops won’t fire in areas where this transport remains. And [we] must agree that 270 trucks is a lot.
The good news:
1. President Petro Poroshenko talked about a change in tactics of the ATO forces. According to him, the tactic now is to “cut the territories controlled by the terrorists into zones, to tightly reduce the ring [around them] and to prevent the possibility for a re-supply of weapons and ammunition.”
It is quite obvious that such operations should be carried out at lightning speed. We have already learned a bitter lesson that we cannot move teams and units into the zones between the enemy formations and put them on the defensive–[or] the systematic destruction of our forces begins. In order [for them] to act quickly, they need reserves. In theory, the mobilization should have taken care of that, and therefore let’s hope that this strategy will be successful.
Dmitry Tymchuk, Coordinator, Information Resistance
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
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