Ukraine Revolt/Civil War News, Reports, Data, etc.

Equation said:

Although damaged it's runway can be repaired enough to provide landing and take offs of supplies from planes and helicopters.

Click to expand...

that's true what you said but let me tell you about one thing which is important right now, bro:
recently Propaganda of both sides like double downed on Donetsk Airport so now many people will be frequently asking the same question "How can it be the Aiport isn't ours yet?!" As for yesterday, in the morning I saw there was an obstacle there: the Airport was under thick fog ... and in the evening I went back through on-line reporting of both sides (since links are still on my navigation ledge:


and I figured it was a real mess; two examples:
Ukrainians blamed Separatists for taking down one of the floors (but why not? it could've been effective against anybody below ...);
Separatists "ridiculed" Ukrainians for shelling debris (but why not? what if they were sure enemy could be coming from some destroyed area ...)
Of course, I don't if any of these reports are true.

solarz said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Interestingly, the threat of Russia stopping gas delivery to Ukraine never materialized, despite the fact that such a move would have crippled the Kiev regime's economy.

..

Click to expand...

no gas for Ukraine would mean no gas for Donbass, since the pipelines cross the Russian-Ukrainian border on the territory which is not controlled by Separatists:

(so now it's actually Ukrainians who could've cut the gas to Donbass -- by the way I didn't figure out how the accounting worked recently for this, I mean it's well know Ukraine owes Russia for the gas ... but sends a part of it to Separatists who what? pay?? owe??)

solarz said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Interestingly, the threat of Russia stopping gas delivery to Ukraine never materialized, despite the fact that such a move would have crippled the Kiev regime's economy.

...

Click to expand...

in addition to what I said in my preceding post, you may consider the revenues for example for

• the Director-General of Gazprom Export
• somebody who owns 4.5% of Gazprom

solarz said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Interestingly, the threat of Russia stopping gas delivery to Ukraine never materialized, despite the fact that such a move would have crippled the Kiev regime's economy.

This is perhaps the most perplexing part of Russia's strategy. That they are supporting the Novorossiyan rebels is without question, but they do not seem to be willing to make the moves that would ensure the rebels' victory.

Click to expand...

Russian gas supplies to Western Europe pass through Ukraine (think back a few years to Russian complaints that the Ukrainians were siphoning part of that off for themselves).

As such, cutting off supplies to Ukraine would be tantamount to cutting supplies to much of Western Europe. Cutting supplies to Ukraine only while continuing supplies to Europe will mean that Ukraine will just take more gas from supplies intended for Europe and all Russia would achieve with such an embargo is effectively write off all the debts Ukraine owes it.

On top of that, such a move would have massive political and economic reprecussions for Russia as well as the world economy.

That is an ace Russia would much rather keep for a truly dire day.

To be blunt, the rebels are not important enough to warrant Russia wasting such an important strategic asset over.

The website of my favorite radio station has a rambling story about Kiev capturing a large part of the Donetsk airport but being probably to weak to maintain control and about fighting being extended into the city and killing and wounding civilians.

delft said:

The website of my favorite radio station has a rambling story about Kiev capturing a large part of the Donetsk airport but being probably to weak to maintain control and about fighting being extended into the city and killing and wounding civilians.

Click to expand...

The BBC is putting out similar copy


I get the sense that "fighting in Donetsk" is largely spin for shelling.
I many ways this is the same old as before. Based on the low profile reports in the media, it suggests that the NAF claims are closer to the reality and that the Pro Kiev forces have not made any significant progress in their offensive or retaken any major par, if any part, of the Airport
It is perhaps supported by today's video footage from the NAF which seems to be shot on the perimeter highways and the surrounding villages rather than the Airport buildings themselves.

Remember the basis rules of MSM reporting
Pro Kiev victory - Headlines and 15 minutes sector banner and item repeats
Small NAF victory - Ignore
Major NAFvictory - blame the Russians!

solarz said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Interestingly, the threat of Russia stopping gas delivery to Ukraine never materialized, despite the fact that such a move would have crippled the Kiev regime's economy.

This is perhaps the most perplexing part of Russia's strategy. That they are supporting the Novorossiyan rebels is without question, but they do not seem to be willing to make the moves that would ensure the rebels' victory.

Click to expand...

This is as much a hearts and minds campaign for the (relatively) silent majority of Ukrainians as it is a military and economic conflict between the activists of each faction. A blanket move which affects everyone in Ukraine directly such as Russia cutting off gas to Ukraine would be interpreted as abandonment of Ukrainians who are Russia-friendly or neutral. Western sanctions on Russia are targeted against specific individuals and organizations to address the equivalent point regarding Russians who are Western-friendly or neutral.

Drone footage

Back to bottling my Grenache

Novorossiya Army destroyed new terminal Donetsk airport 2015/01/19


Back to bottling my Grenache

This is very interesting and I think really nails the arguement about who controls the Airport
I this video we see Givi and Motorola capture the Ukrainian Army Colonel who was presumably in command and who was the very same officer that Motorola was filmed negotiating with a month or so ago


I picked this up via the Saker and he has some very interesting comments about the half heartedness of this apparent offensive. I have no idea if his notions are right, but it is something I will be bearing in mind when looking at forthcoming events.