[Donetsk]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('radon1', '
')
Interesting that they protest so fiercely against a hike from 2 hryvnas to 4 hryvnas for a single trip. Moscow's single trip fare is 40-50 roubles, and the current official exchange rate is 2.62 roubles per 1 hryvna. Kiev's fare is an order of magnitude lower than Moscow's.

Who's been subsidizing all these Kievan mooche... bloggers all this time, now that they are so unhappy and pro-whatever pro they are? Gimmi cheap NG, damn moscovites!

[radon1]

USA Today recognized Crimea as Russian:




Logvinovo, Mariupol, Kramatorsk summary: http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com/115474.html

[radon1]

A detailed report on the Debaltsevo cauldron:

http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com/115999.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Debalcevo encirclement. February 11th.

1. By February 11th the AFU couldn't unblock the encircled group in the area of Debalcevo. I think that now it is quite possible to separate the Svetlodarsk group of the enemy and the Debalcevo group as two different operational factors.
A significant chunk of the M-103 road is subject to shelling by the NAF artillery and mortars in the area of Logvinovo where the NAF started to fortify the positions, the road may also be subjected to action by the armor and to automatic fire.
Additional control is provided by sabotage/reconnaissance groups that pop-up towards the road on various locations. In addition in the locations of the approach to the road the NAF perform mining. Under these conditions the communication between the Debalcevo and the Svetlodarsk groups of the enemy is impossible and the cauldron has indeed happened: the massive artillery shelling and the counter-attacks by the infantry and armor encountered the fire control by the NAF and the front attained positional features, which implies a catastrophe for the Debalcevo group.
...

[Withnail]

Ukrainain forces near Debatselvo retreating, abandoning tanks, BMPs and ammunition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... nHt3raPyig

Police station stormed and Debatselvo police chief Eugene Yukhanov killed, supposedly by NAF infiltration group. The police station is in the centre of town.



Other reports I read earlier suggested Ukraine regarded him as disloyal.

Ukraine Army spokesman Vladyslav Selezniov says 19 soldiers killed, 78 wounded in artillery fire at Debatselvo in last 24 hours.

[radon1]

CCTV: Ukraine town of Artemivsk prepares for war on their doorsteps

http://youtu.be/PXHUSio9uyA

NYT: Battered Ukrainian City of Mariupol Braces for Worst as Rebels Close In

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/world ... tw-nytimes

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')ARIUPOL, Ukraine — The morning routine begins promptly at 8:05 at Public School 68, with a round of calisthenics followed immediately by the daily shelling drill.

A bell clangs on the loudspeaker, and unsmiling children pour out of classrooms in perfect formation, knees bent, heads down, squatting along the thick corridor walls far from any windows, hands clamped over their ears.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')oliday For Children From East Ukraine: Volunteers organise two-week trip to Carpathians
Nearly 40 children from Ukraine’s frontline region of Luhansk have spent a two-week holiday in the Carpathian Mountains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8bl4kiEjyA

[radon1]

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... 78706.html

(edited)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')oscow, Feb. 11 — RIA Novosti. The permanent representative of the self proclaimed the Donetsk Republic at talks in Minsk Denis Pushilin does not confirm any prior cease-fire arrangements in the Donbass region.

"There has been no discussion yet, we have just passed today our version of the Protocol and this is it. It is still not clear when the meeting of the contact group begins, it has not yet started," - Pushilin told RIA by telephone.

Earlier a source close to the negotiations, reported that the contact group in Ukraine reached preliminary agreements on a ceasefire and withdrawal of weapons

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$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('radon1', 'h')ttp://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fria.ru%2Fworld%2F20150211%2F1047078706.html

(edited)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')oscow, Feb. 11 — RIA Novosti. The permanent representative of the self proclaimed the Donetsk Republic at talks in Minsk Denis Pushilin does not confirm any prior cease-fire arrangements in the Donbass region.

"There has been no discussion yet, we have just passed today our version of the Protocol and this is it. It is still not clear when the meeting of the contact group begins, it has not yet started," - Pushilin told RIA by telephone.

Earlier a source close to the negotiations, reported that the contact group in Ukraine reached preliminary agreements on a ceasefire and withdrawal of weapons

[radon1]

Kiev mayor Klitschko checked state civil bomb-shelters

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... 3Fid%3D769

(edited)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'K')iev's Mayor visited several shelters and stores. "Store in a satisfactory condition, clean, everything works. Hopefully, no one in Kiev has to use them. But we need to be fully prepared. Therefore, we are now inspecting the state stores throughout the city, learn how informed people about the availability of shelter in their house. Our task is to inform residents about the shelter, located in their areas, houses," said Vitali Klitschko, in comments to reporters.

The Mayor stressed that leaders areas must hold appropriate work on informing its citizens about the shelters in houses, underground crosswalks, etc. "Kiev has 526 objects of different classes, which are stores or shelters".

[radon1]

Pretty concise, even if a bit emotional, summary:

http://rocksolidpolitics.blogspot.ru/20 ... l?spref=tw

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')onday, February 9, 2015

Minsk is Dead

On September 5, 2014, after six months of fighting, the powers in Europe drew up the Minsk Agreement with Russia to end fighting in the Ukraine. The plan had 12 points primarily centered around stopping the fighting, with some ink devoted to a special status for Donetsk and Luhansk within Ukraine and some economic investment to spur the republics economies. Looking back on the Minsk Agreement now, well, it seems pretty hollow.

Depending on which casualty reports you want to believe, there have been between 5-15,000 people killed in the conflict and ten times that wounded or maimed. A majority of those are civilians. The majority of those civilians killed and wounded were at the hands of Ukraine army artillery - multiple rocket artillery (GRAD) to be exact. In fact the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk have suffered indiscriminate shelling for close to a year now. Before that it was Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Artemivsk, Gorlovka and so on. It wasn't until fairly recently that the separatist forces (NAF) got a hold of GRAD systems in any significant numbers. Now they are pounding cities too around the Debaltsevo pocket east of Gorlovka.

In short, far too much blood has been spilled too subject the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics to the authority of Ukraine. That time has come and gone, and any agreement that even hints at that will be worth less than the paper it's written on.

The practical implications of allowing Ukraine to rule the two republics again speak for themselves. The Ukraine army has destroyed vast areas of the republics with primarily artillery. Bridges have been blown, water and sewer plants destroyed, electrical grids damaged, hospitals and schools destroyed, and so on. The bill to replace this mass of infrastructure alone is in the tens of billions. Ukraine doesn't have the money to fix what it has ruined. As we speak it is weeks away from a possible default, but even if that doesn't happen, the Ukraine financial position is at best Greek-like. In fact, in the last year Ukraine's currency has lost about 65% of its value. There is no up side here. So how could Ukraine rule Donetsk and Luhansk again in any case? They would be left in abstract poverty and decline for decades at least.

Many nations are formed in blood - actually most. Donetsk and Luhansk are no different, albeit they remain pawns in a larger game of geo-politics - each side spurring on their choice in one way or another. How can the woman whose man has been killed in battle by the Ukraine army live under its flag? How can the man in the NAF maimed by war do the same? How about the civilians with now tortured minds from being under shelling far too long, or seeing far too much death and destruction, ever stand and sing the Ukraine national anthem. These are not matters of geo-politics. These are matters of humanity.

[Withnail]

[AgentR11]

I would refer US hawk-like entities that want to give OUR stuff to the Ukrainian Army. Do you really want a modern Apache or Javelin to be in one of those piles of stuff; and then promptly chopped, wrapped, and packed, and driven to Moscow?

Clearly material control is sorely lacking.

[Quinny]

@ Agent - I know you criticise the command structure of the Ukrainian army and put that forward as a reason for them losing, but the NRA don't seem to be all professionals either.

How come they seem to be doing relatively well. Fighting for survival?

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Quinny', '@') Agent - I know you criticise the command structure of the Ukrainian army and put that forward as a reason for them losing, but the NRA don't seem to be all professionals either.
How come they seem to be doing relatively well. Fighting for survival?

[americandream]

agent

These conflicts are about tweaking the systems distribution of accumulation between the elites and nothing more. They do not pose a significant challenge to its makeup which will remain intact till its scollapse at some indeterminate time in the future. Consequently, there is no real reason for the money markets to unduly panic.

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Minsk conference takes an ugly turn.



Ukrainian armour with slogan 'Keep calm and love UA'.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'T')hese conflicts are about tweaking the systems distribution of accumulation between the elites and nothing more. They do not pose a significant challenge to its makeup which will remain intact till its scollapse at some indeterminate time in the future. Consequently, there is no real reason for the money markets to unduly panic.

[radon1]

Today's rioting in Kiev around the city administration building: http://youtu.be/L2vxUwsnESU

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... s%2F149731

(edited)

Donbass soldiers found the bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers killed by the Ukrainian "blocking detachments"

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')
Three Ukrainian soldiers, who planed to surrender to the Lugansk army to save their lives, were shot point-blank in the back by the Ukrainian National Guard.

Lugansk military submitted a journalist evidence of "blocking detachments" in the army of Ukraine. Three Ukrainian soldiers phoned the Lugansk troops to inform that they are ready to voluntarily lay down their arms and go on the side of the Lugansk republic, but they were shot in the back by the Ukrainian National Guard on the neutral territory. The young people were killed on the spot. Documents of two of them were obtained by a Lugansk reconnaissance group, by the bodies were impossible to evacuate so far as the neutral territory is under active fire from the Ukrainian side.

[Withnail]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('radon1', 'T')oday's rioting in Kiev around the city administration building: http://youtu.be/L2vxUwsnESU

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'T')hese conflicts are about tweaking the systems distribution of accumulation between the elites and nothing more. They do not pose a significant challenge to its makeup which will remain intact till its scollapse at some indeterminate time in the future. Consequently, there is no real reason for the money markets to unduly panic.