Civilians su er in Putin’s ‘secret’ war
In a stark violation of February’s Minsk II ceasefire agreement, which banned the use of heavy weapons, Russian-backed forces rained fire down on this bucolic farming village for about 40 minutes Tuesday, demolishing 27 homes and shattering the lives of hundreds of peasants.
“I have nothing to live on. Why? What for? Everything is destroyed,” shrieked a woman who would give only her first name, Alla.
As her husband and other kin tried to save a few clothes and bricks from the ruins of their modest house, Alla railed at a group of Ukrainian journalists: “The state is at war and nobody thinks about the people. Dead people are everywhere. I feel as if I am also dead, just like them … Where shall I live? Who will compensate me for my destroyed house?”
The renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine occurs as Prime Minister Stephen Harper is due to arrive Saturday in Kyiv for talks about how Canada can further assist the country’s beleaguered and besieged armed forces.
Harper will find the mood grim when he meets Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The president warned parliamentarians Thursday the country had to be prepared to defend itself from a full-scale Russian offensive after a surge of fighting this week around Lebedinskoye and other places near the Russian border.
It was hard to say whether the shells that struck homes in Lebedinskoye and the freshly planted wheat fields that surround the village were part of a long-expected rebel offensive to capture the strategically important city of Mariupol, 20 kilometres to the west.
Tuesday’s initial barrage took place with rebel forces from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic lurking only 2.5 km up the road and Ukrainian forces — apparently equipped with only assault rifles and side arms because of the Minsk agreement — nervously eyeing the tree line for signs of movement.
The attack at Lebedinskoye was followed Wednesday by the most intense fighting in months. There were two battles for control of Ukrainian-held towns 70 km to the north near Donetsk. Those exchanges, with each side apparently using heavy weapons including tanks, left at least 19 people dead, according to Ukrainian and separatist forces.
Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France brokered a peace accord in February to replace an early one that fell apart when a rebel offensive captured Donetsk airport and the town of Debaltseve, which fell to Moscow’s proxies early this year.
Under that deal neither side was to use mortars, artillery or tanks.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Ukrainian side was to blame for this week’s dramatic surge in fighting.
Even to the untrained military eye that claim looked dubious, at least in Lebedinskoye. The blast patterns where three of the shells had exploded indicated they had to have been fired from the east, which has been held for months by Russia’s separatist proxies.
“Look at the trajectory,” said Lt.-Col. Dimitri Grubonov of the Ukrainian army. “It was completely from the enemy side.”
Holding up remnants of some of the exploded howitzer shells, Ukrainian forces in Lebedinskoye were unanimously of the opinion Russian troops, rather than local Russian sympathizers, were responsible for the assault. This is because the shells came from highly destructive 152-millimetre self-propelled artillery seen recently with Russian forces on both sides of the border.
“This was a professional force because they corrected their fire and moved around during the 40 minutes they were attacking,” said Warrant Officer Oleksandr Kosynski, the command sergeant major of the Ukrainian armed forces, who was visiting the front lines. “To do that you have to know what you are doing. You can’t just take guys who drive a tractor or work in factories or mines to do this.”
As for the military trainers Canada will be sending to Ukraine in August, Kosynski, who has spent time with the U.S. Marines in North Carolina, said their help was badly needed.
“Our systems of professional training and education for our soldiers are not perfect,” he said. “I have met Canadian NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and they have a deep program of military education.
“The Canadian instructors are going to teach us how to build our military education system.”
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov, is strategically significant because it sits astride the only potential land corridor from southern Russia to Crimea.
The opinion on the front lines around Mariupol is that a major assault by the rebels and their Russian allies is inevitable. The only difference is whether it would take place during the next few days or in the summer.
Although there are many checkpoints, it is still possible to reach Mariupol by road from western Ukraine. Shops in the city remain well stocked and there is a semblance of ordinary life. But many residents have already fled. Others are anxiously trying to figure out when to do so.
“Should we leave? We think about this all the time. But my husband has a job and his family is here,” said Olga Fomina, 25.
It is already too late for people such as Alla in nearby Lebedinskoye.
“I don’t like Poroshenko. I don’t like Putin. I don’t understand this war,” she said amid a torrent of tears. “I love Ukraine and only want to live in peace. Give me my house back.”
Look at the trajectory. It was completely from the enemy side