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

This is by the English section of Xinhua News so "translation" should not be an issue. Not like the original was translated by a third non-Chinese state agency. I've met Chinese who are very effectively bilingual, even down to having a US accent.

The original headline reads:

"Interview: Chinese diplomat calls powers' game root cause of Ukraine crisis"



The other headline used by other news syndication was from within the context itself.

"The West should abandon the zero-sum mentality, and take the real security concerns of Russia into consideration," said Qu.

Donetsk rebels announce full heavy weapons withdrawal in E. Ukraine



Eastern Ukrainian rebels say they have withdrawn all heavy weaponry in Donetsk and relocated 80 percent of hardware in Lugansk, in accordance with the Minsk-2 peace agreements.

The self-defense forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said they completed the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the 500-kilometer demarcation line.

Heavy weapons were pulled back on Saturday in Donetsk, Torez, Dmitrovka, Pervomaisk, Bezymennoye, and Samoylovka, according to DPR spokesman Eduard Basurin.

“During the whole withdrawal operation, the DNR militia has pulled out 21 artillery groups,” he said.

The militias in Lugansk Region said they relocated most of their heavy arms, but will need a couple more days to complete the withdrawal.

"As of mid-day February 28, the corps of the people's militia has withdrawn 80 percent of heavy weapons from the demarcation line. By March 2 or 3, the process of the withdrawal of heavy weapons is planned to be completed. Of course, if there are no incidents,” a Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) statement reads.

Ukrainian forces are also withdrawing their heavy weapons, but the rebels blame Kiev for delaying the process. According to Basurin, Ukraine has so far pulled out only 15 percent of its hardware in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.

“There was no control from the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and the weaponry was relocated to positions from which it can be returned within an hour,” the DPR representative said.

According to the daily report by the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission, the Ukrainian military’s staff said it can speed up the withdrawal of weapons if the ceasefire agreed during the Minks talks holds.

The report said that on Friday, observers witnessed the withdrawal of four DPR convoys and two LPR convoys, while Kiev pulled out some of is hardware from Artemovsk and Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka.

The deputy chief monitor of the OSCE mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, told DPA news agency that the ceasefire between Kiev and the rebels is holding along most of the demarcation line. However, the sides may require more time to complete the withdrawal of heavy weaponry than the two-week period agreed in Minsk.

The withdrawal of heavy weaponry is a mandatory step set out by the Minsk ceasefire agreements signed earlier this month. Under the deal, both sides must pull their heavy weapons back from the demarcation line to form a buffer zone of 50 to 140km, depending on the type of weapon.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told 112 channel that at “any moment, our military is ready to redeploy its hardware to the former positions if there is a need to repel the enemy.”

A prisoner exchange is also underway between the sides, with Kiev’s negotiator, Yury Tandit, saying he expects all Ukraine servicemen to be released by March 5.

The country's conflict began in April 2014, after Kiev sent its military to the southeastern regions that refused to recognize the new coup-imposed authorities in the capital. Nearly a year of fighting has led to at least 5,793 deaths, according to UN estimates. Another 14,595 people have been wounded.

Conversely it also means all those tanks captured by the militia and put back into the field will also be susceptible to the same catastrophic blowout.

Tanks Made in Ukraine Cannot Take a Hit

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Ukrainian T-64 tanks made in Kharkiv have serious manufacturing defects that decrease their ability to take a hit.

There is one noticeable thing, when you look at the losses of the Ukrainian army in Donbas – there is a large number of destroyed tanks with strange, uncharacteristic damages on their hulls, Latvian Vesti.lv reports.

When Ukrainian tanks get hit, their top turrets tear away and their hulls receive severe damages, sometimes with welding seams easily breaking apart.

“In Ukraine, hulls of T-64 tanks are often severely damaged, with entire pieces of armor plucked out, and you can see that the damage is done along welding seams of the hull, while the rest of the armor plates left out bent. The most obvious explanation to the damages of Ukrainian armored vehicles is the poor quality of manufacturing.” – the Latvian source said.

These T-64 tanks were manufactured at a factory in Kharkiv. Since a large amount of these tanks have similar damages, it would be safe to assume the tanks had some technological defects during the manufacturing stage that resulted in the decrease of their armor.

Meanwhile, same T-64 tanks that were made during the Soviet Union were used in many battles, but they have never had their hulls torn to pieces, Vesti reports.

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Kiev Regroups Heavy Arms Near Contact Line, Violates Minsk Deal - Donetsk

According to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Kiev is redeploying withdrawn heavy weaponry near the contact line



DONETSK (Sputnik) — Ukraine's government troops are regrouping heavy arms near the line of contact, the deputy commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) forces said Sunday.

"Unfortunately, DPR intelligence is spotting new cases of withdrawn Ukrainian units being redeployed [in] violation of Minsk agreements, 20-30 kilometers [12-18 miles] from the line of contact," Eduard Basurin said at a news briefing.

The official also flatly denied accusations that DPR was secretly turning back its large-caliber arms to positions from which they had been previously pulled away.

"These assumptions are untrue and cannot serve as justification for Ukraine's non-compliance with its obligations to withdraw weapons," Basurin said.

Earlier in the day, Basurin, along with a self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) official, told RIA Novosti that both DPR and LPR have completed heavy weaponry withdrawal in adherence to the deal with Kiev.

Basurin added at the briefing that his command passed on the details of the withdrawal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) observers.

The agreement, dubbed the Minsk Accord, was signed after extensive talks on February 12 in the Belarusian capital. It specifies 13 measures to end the conflict in east Ukraine.

Worked out by the German, French, Russian and Ukrainian leaders, it includes the aforementioned pullback of heavy arms, a general ceasefire and an all-for-all prisoner exchange.

Sunday marks the 14th day since the ceasefire came into force and the last day of the large-caliber arms withdrawal envisioned by the deal.

Good that life is returning to some semblance of normality in war torn Donbass.

The result of an effective artillery strike. No bodies.

Debalcevo after the fighting. Looks like the rail head suffered only minimal damage.

Dannhill said:

Debalcevo after the fighting. Looks like the rail head suffered only minimal damage.

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I wonder when use of the railway will be restored.

Ukraine's Armed Forces regular soldiers stationed at the front lines giving their impressions about the war and the situation in Ukraine (English subs):


Back to bottling my Grenache

Miragedriver said:

Ukraine's Armed Forces regular soldiers stationed at the front lines giving their impressions about the war and the situation in Ukraine (English subs):

Back to bottling my Grenache

Click to expand...

If this video represents the real feelings the Ukraine Army personnel fighting in the front lines, then it is very sad and demoralizing. I assumed when the soldier mentioned "ATO" he meant NATO - It was to him "No Action Talk Only". How can the Ukrainian Army fight? Where are the military aids that were supposed to be sent to them? Veterans of wars would know that in such a bleak situation and with no help, the war would be lost in no time. My sympathy go to the front liners.