As of today the situation in the Ukraine is deceptively calm. If the Novorussians have completed the withdrawal of their heavy weapons, the junta forces by all accounts did not: they did withdraw some, but most if it was not so much a case of withdrawal as a case of relocation and even rotation of forces. The OSCE knows about it, but there is nothing which they can do. Furthermore,
Nothing major has happened over the past 24 hours, but a lot of small but interesting things have happened in the past couple of days. What I propose to do first today is to list them with a URL to the original source: A Ukrainian Smørrebrød: According to a recent poll of the Lithuanian TV station TV3 82% of their viewers say that Russian media info is trustworthy. Get
The withdrawal of heavy weapons and M2A: The situation on the line of contact is generally calm. The Novorussian forces are withdrawing their heavy weapons according to schedule while the junta forces are, by most reports, not or, not much. The excuse for these delays is that “the necessary conditions have not been created”. In reality, the problem is that Poroshenko has very little control over the various armed forces.
The Novorussian and the junta have agreed to a cease-fire to allow the civilian population to leave Debaltsevo. In theory, each civilian will get to chose whether he/she wants to be evacuated to Novorussia or to the Nazi-occupied Ukraine. The convoy of refugees will be escorted by senior OSCE officials. Both sides to the conflict have pledged not to open fire during the time needed for this operation. Now consider
This time this sure looks official: the Russian TV channel REN-TV has announced that the Debaltsevo cauldron has been finally closed, just north of the city of Debaltsevo itself and not further north up the highway where this had been expected. The same reports say that the DNR and LNR forces met, so we are not talking about holding the highway under direct artillery fire anymore, but about Novorussian forces
The Saker: Feeling better, but on the road all day today. Will resume full-time blogging tomorrow. Debaltsevo cauldron – still *not* closed: According to Cassad, the cauldron is still not closed and I trust him. This being said, the Novorussians are holding the only highway out of the cauldron under their fire and they selectively allow some units to leave (medical, support & staff, for propaganda purposes) while destroying
Here is, according to Colonel Cassad (by far the best source of info right now) the map of the situation this evening (local time): The junta forces are definitely in a bad operational situation. They are surrounded all all sides except the north, but the highway leading north which the junta needs resupply its forces in and around Debaltsevo and which it could use to withdraw these forces is
The Zionists: Oh this is too good!!! My two “favorite” Russia-hating Ueber-Zionists join forces in the New York Times to call for the salvation of the Nazi Junta in Kiev by a massive injection of capital. Priceless. Here is what they wrote: (full text) Save the New Ukraine A NEW Ukraine was born a year ago in the pro-European protests that helped to drive President Viktor F. Yanukovych from power.
I have been trying to wait as long as possible to get some facts confirmed, but at this point in time I am confident enough to say that there are numerous and convergent signs that things are going extremely badly for the Kiev junta. Just look at the following recent headlines: Kiev urgently summons NATO-Ukraine meeting in Brussels Junta officers get the right to shoot their man in case of
Over the past 48 hours not much has changed. Donetsk: The airport is confirmed fully in Novorussians hands and the main combats are in the towns of Peski, Avdeevka, Krasnogorovka and Marinka which are shown in black on the map below: In all these locations the Novorussian Armed Forces are on the offensive in order to push back the Ukrainian Repression Forces. If the Novorussian succeed in booting the
Touching Base by Mindfriedo Commitments and hard times in “Meat Space,” as Saker calls it, have kept me from contributing to the Saker and his unrivalled dedication to the truth. Having said that, I will try and sift as much as I can, from whatever news is out there and post it as often as I can, which I hope to be at least once a week. Iraq:
I have to admit that what happened in the past 24 hours has been a surprise for me. For one thing, I expected an attack later in the year because right now the weather conditions are bad and very much favor the defenders. I also expected a heavy fire preparation of the battlefield (meaning that the Ukies would shell Novorussian positions) followed by a push by Ukie armor along several
Things look very bad today and very intensive combat operations, in particular artillery strikes, are reported everywhere in Novorussia. At the very least, in the following locations: 1) Donetsk Airport: the Ukrainians attacked with a fairly large concentration of armor and under heavy artillery fire. As for tonight (local time) all of these attacks have been successfully repelled but intelligences sources are reporting a sharp rise in the number of
by Mark Sleboda Russia will obviously not allow the West-backed and installed Kiev regime to conquer the rump “NovoRossiya” by military means. This latest “offensive” of theirs will either peter out quickly or will end very badly for them if it expands in the Spring. But the NAF is even less a coherent and organized force than the UAF/batallions (and that’s saying a lot because Kiev has very limited
SitRep Transcarpathia, Transnistria and Gagauzia 17 Nov – 23 Nov A perambulation around the periphery of Ukraine, looking at local and regional viewpoints. The media coverage varies from relatively neutral to rabidly nationalist. Note: some urls in the links are prefixed with ‘z5h64q92x9.net/tr-url/ru-en.en/’ . This form provides the reader with a Yandex translated version of the source. The original article can be reached by removing this prefix. Kharkov has experienced
(Note: some urls in the links are prefixed with ‘z5h64q92x9.net/tr-url/ru-en.en/’. This form provides the reader with a Yandex translated version of the source. The original article can be reached by removing this prefix.) Transcarpathia ATO Only two individuals from Transcarpathia have been reported as killed at the front. The first served volunteered in AUgust and received two weeks training. He joined the 128 Mechanised Infantry Brigade and was killed by
Novorussia is still expecting a Ukrainian attack. First, according to RT, “Kiev is not fully committed to the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Russian deputy UN ambassador Aleksandr Pankin said during Wednesday’s UN Security Council meeting. He added that the Ukrainian military is amassing forces along the front line“. Then from the Novorussian front lines, we have the blogger Colonel Cassad who reports that a friend of his has just visited
by “Y” Whilst the situations in Transcarpathia, Transnistria and Gagauzia remain essentially stable, the $5 billion bomb detonated at the Ukraine Maidan has set off shock waves that ripple and reflect off pre-existing dormant conflicts and tensions. These have expanded to Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, the Baltic States, Moldova and Romania in the immediate vicinity, let alone the major states at the heart of Europe. Given these effects, I hope the
There is an interesting word in Russian: вялотекущий. It can be translated as “creeping” or “sluggish”. It is composed of the word вяло which means “lethargically”, or “torpidly” or “apathetic” and текущий which means to flow, to progress. This word comes to my mind when looking at the war in the Ukraine, it is progressing towards some kind of worsening, but it does so in a slouching, slowly creeping way.Novorussian
by “Y” Transcarpathia ATO Volunteers from the Tachyiv district have shipped ~ 2.5 tons of supplies to the front. These supplies intended for Aidar, the 128th Brigade and the 24th Brigade are described as ‘humanitarian aid’, and consist mainly of winter clothing along with a few specialist items such as night vision imaging devices. Some have raised concerns over these latter items as they appear to have been bought at
