Ukraine’s military officials said on Dec. 19 that the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine started shelling the Ukrainian troops with the self-made light portable rocket launchers Grad-P. If true, this is yet another move that casts a shadow on the peacemaking process.
Light rocket launching system Grad-P, or Partisan, was developed by the Soviet engineers in 1965 for the North Vietnamese forces in the war against the U.S. Since then it has become a popular weapon for guerilla war. But there were no reports of the Grad-P being used in the eastern Ukraine war before.
Moreover, Ukrainian officials say the separatists produce the Grad-P, using the capabilities of the seized enterprises in eastern Ukraine.
It comes together with the Ukrainian military reports of the increased shelling. Five Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the past 24 hours in Donbas.
Together, the news cast a shadow on the already shaky cease-fire between the Ukrainian military and the joined Russian-separatist forces.
The ceasefire was the first demand of the Minsk-2 peace deal reached in February to stop the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. But it has never been fully implemented so far, with the civilians and the soldiers on both sides being killed every week.
On Dec. 18, the separatist forces shelled seven Grad-P rockets at the Ukrainian military near the village of Troitske in Luhansk Oblast, said Anton Myronovych, a military spokesman said. He added that the intensity of shelling at the Ukrainian forces from different weapons increased over the last days.
The special monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also confirmed in its report on Dec. 18 the increase of cease-fire violations over the last days.
The Ukrainian military intelligence found out that the Grad-P weapons are being used by the separatists brigade located in the city of Horlivka.
“These weapons are produced at the enterprises of the currently occupied parts of Donetsk Oblast,” Andriy Lysenko, spokesman of the Presidential Administration on anti-terrorism operation told at the news briefing on Dec. 19. He didn’t elaborate the exact locations.
Both sides accuse each other of violating the peace deal and claim they don’t shoot in response in case of the attack.
The separatist group that occupies Donetsk claimed on Dec. 19 that the Ukrainian troops shelled at their side 10 times over the last 24 hours.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
