A total of 449 Ukrainian servicemen engaged in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in the eastern regions of the country crossed the border with Russia on August 1-4 with the assistance of OSCE observers and now have probably returned to Ukraine, according to the OSCE Web site.
“On August 1-2, 2014, Ukrainian army officers made contact with the
OSCE Observer Mission (OM) to request OSCE assistance to open a
passageway to the Gukovo border crossing point (BCP) of the Russian
Federation (RF) for several hundred Ukrainian servicemen. On August 2,
an initial group of 12 Ukrainian troops crossed into the RF. On August
4, the OSCE Observer Mission witnessed the passage of 437 Ukrainian
servicemen. They were sent to a nearby transit facility and, according
to the local Russian authorities, all of them were set to return to
Ukraine in the hours to come,” the OSCE observer mission said in a
report released on Aug 5.
The OSCE noted that on August 1-2, the OSCE observer mission received
calls from officers of the 72nd mechanized infantry brigade who claimed
that around 600 Ukrainian servicemen were surrounded by separatists and
left without ammunition, fuel and food. The officers asked for the
observer mission’s assistance in facilitating the transfer at the border
crossing point and reached out to their leadership in the Ukrainian
Defense Ministry. The mission relayed the information to the Russian
authorities to permit the safe transfer and received agreement.
On August 2, 12 servicemen of the 72nd brigade crossed the border
through the Gukovo border crossing point at 2200. They were subsequently
brought to a transit facility. On August 3, the acting chief observer
was contacted by the commander of the 12 servicemen and had an
opportunity to talk with him for an hour at Gukovo border crossing
point. The commander had only one request: to be transferred with his
subordinates as soon as possible back to Ukraine through a safe border
checkpoint.
“The Russian Federation arranged for transportation of the 12
servicemen, who crossed the border back into Ukraine during the night of
August 3-4. The OSCE observers confirmed the crossing into Ukraine with
the commander by phone,” reads the report.
On August 3, late in the evening, a commanding officer of the 72nd
brigade returned to meet the observer mission again at the Gukovo
checkpoint. The meeting took place in the presence of the Gukovo
checkpoint commander. The mission discussed modalities of the transfer
of a larger group of servicemen into Russia from Ukraine and confirmed
them with the checkpoint commander.
“From 0045 to 1020 on August 4, a total of 437 servicemen (including
147 border guards) crossed into the Russian Federation in well-organized
waves of 100 and were transferred to the transit facility. The wounded
servicemen were given first aid and were sent by ambulance to hospital…
At 1500 on August 4, the OM met with the Gukovo border crossing point
commander and the regional border commander. The OM enquired about the
transfer of the servicemen from Russia to Ukraine and learned that 192
were already on their way by bus to Ukraine and that the others would
follow in the next bus…. The cell phones of the 72nd brigade commander
and border guard commander were not reachable to confirm this
information,” the OSCE said.
The observer mission also enquired about any asylum request and none was reported.
