A Dramatic Increase In Fighting In Eastern Ukraine

November 13, 2016
Photo via EuroMaidan

Ukraine Day 1000: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.

Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine

 


A Dramatic Increase In Fighting In Eastern Ukraine

1000 days ago today, The Interpreter awoke to the news that the massive protests in Kiev had turned deadly. The corrupt President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, had buckled under pressure from Russia to keep Ukraine out of the European Union. After months of facing increasingly large crowds of protesters, Yanukovych delivered the Ukrainian people an ultimatum to clear the streets. They did not. Throughout the week, the violence intensified, the protesters did not give ground, and ultimately Yanukovych and much of his government fled to Russia. 

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The Spirit Of the Maidan Revolution Will Survive

This article is the latest in our series marking the anniversary of the Maidan Revolution. See the other articles in the series here. The protesters had been in the streets for months, braving the bitter cold Ukrainian winter and multiple clashes with riot police, but refusing to leave until the Ukrainian government signed an association agreement with the European Union.

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Nov 14, 2016 09:13 (GMT)

Many believed that was the end of the crisis, but The Interpreter knew better. We were following the Russian media’s coverage of the events in Kiev. We were following Russian government statements on the matter. We were monitoring reports off large-scale Russian troop mobilization. It was clear to us that Moscow was not going to let the story end there.

We were right, but we had no idea that 1000 days after our first Ukraine liveblog, we would still be covering Ukraine every day (with only three staff members).

The story has changed in the last 1000 days. Ukraine has fought the Russian military and its proxies to a standstill. But the war is far from over and may, once again, be heating up.

On Sunday, November 13, the Ukrainian military reported that the Russian-backed militants conducted an alarming 64 ceasefire violations across the front lines. Most of that fighting took place in the Mariupol sector, the area near the former Black Sea resort city.

Unian.info reports:

“The militants fired from grenade launchers of various types, infantry fighting vehicles and small arms on the villages of Lebedynske, Vodiane, Pavlopil, Shyrokyne, Taramchuk, and Talakivka. Our positions near Shyrokyne and Pavlopil were attacked with sniper fire,” the ATO Headquarters said.

In the Luhansk sector, Russia’s hybrid military force fired 122mm artillery systems on the villages of Novozvanivka and Troyitske, as well as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms on the villages of Krymske, Novozvanivka, Valuiske, Malynove, Novo-Oleksandrivka and Troyitske.

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Situation in Donbas aggravates, with attacks increasing dramatically

In the Mariupol sector, Russia's hybrid military force attacked Ukrainian positions near Maryinka and Shyrokyne two times, using 152mm artillery. Further, the village of Talakivka was attacked with 122mm artillery. Also, militants fired mortars of various calibers at Shyrokyne, Vodiane, Talakivka, Krasnohorivka, and Bohdanivka.

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Nov 14, 2016 09:33 (GMT)

There are also concerning (yet unconfirmed) reports of new military hardware crossing the border: 

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Watch: Russian military equipment flooding into eastern Ukraine

Video screenshot (Source: Glastnost Gone) Volunteer video shows Russian supplies arriving on freight trains A video published on the internet by Glasnost Gone Twitter user shows the ways how Russian military supplies are delivered into eastern Ukraine.

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Nov 14, 2016 09:35 (GMT)

Is it a coincidence that fighting has spiked after the US election results? Is this a sign of serious escalation? It’s not clear. And unfortunately it’s also not clear whether this crisis will still be raging in another 1000 days.

What is clear, however, is that the status quo is unacceptable and has dragged on for far longer than many ever would have guessed nearly three years ago,

James Miller