Kremlin-backed fighters have continued their onslaught against Ukrainian troops in recent days, gaining more territory.
Following reports on the arrival of more Russian regular troops, Kremlin-backed mercenaries have intensified their shelling of Ukrainian troops and are trying to surround them in several areas. The grim situation on the war front prompted the Cabinet to introduce a state of emergency in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts on Jan. 26.
The destroyed Donetsk Airport has been a major bone of contention between Ukrainian and Russian-backed troops.
Earlier this month Ukrainian troops vacated Donetsk Airport’s two terminals as they were turned to rubble. Ukrainian authorities said on Jan. 22, however, that “cyborgs” – a popular name for the airport’s defenders – still controlled the measurement tower, runway and fire department.
Russian media claimed over the weekend that their insurgents had seized the radar north of the runway and effectively controlled most of the airport.
But Ukrainian journalist Andrei Tsapliyenko wrote on Facebook on Jan. 24, citing a company commander at the Right Sector’s military unit, that Ukrainian troops had re-captured the measurement tower and other buildings and entered the new terminal again.
But Andrei Sharaskin, a spokesman for the Right Sector’s Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, told the Kyiv Post that nobody controlled the remaining ruined buildings at the airport because there was “nothing left to control.”
He dismissed insurgents’ claims that they had taken over the airport as “absolute nonsense” and “propaganda” and said the ruins left had no strategic importance. Ukrainian troops have recently entered the remains of the new terminal in order to find wounded cyborgs but failed and left, he said.
Sharaskin also said that Kremlin-backed fighters were trying to surround Pisky and Karlivka, key strategic locations west of the airport.
Yury Biryukov, head of the Phoenix’ Wings volunteer group and a presidential adviser, expressed a similar view in an interview with TSN on Jan. 25, saying that Donetsk Airport was not controlled by anyone.
Though the situation at the airport remained unclear, Russian-backed fighters have made gains elsewhere.
After seizing Ukrainian checkpoint 31 near the village of Krymske in Luhansk Oblast last week, they said on Jan. 24 that they had also captured the village of Krasny Partizan in Donetsk Oblast and the Ukrainian checkpoint that was located there. After destroying the checkpoint, separatists acquired a direct road connection between Donetsk and another insurgent stronghold, Horlivka.
This information was confirmed by Dmytro Tymchuk, a parliamentarian on the People’s Front’s list, and Nikolai Kolesnik, commander of Ukraine’s Krivbas Battalion, but denied by the Defense Ministry.
Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and nine were captured when separatists took over the checkpoint, medical volunteer Oxana Chorna told the Kyiv Post. Later insurgents posted a video of a brutal interrogation and torture of Ukrainian fighters captured in Krasny Partizan.
Chorna added that Avdiyivka, a village 20 kilometers from Donetsk, is being heavily shelled. “A bomb has just fallen 20 meters from the car,” she said, speaking from the scene.
A volunteer helping the Ukrainian army who lives in Dzerzhinsk, which is located to the north from Krasny Partizan, also confirmed to the Kyiv Post that the Ukrainian checkpoint in the village had been seized. The volunteer spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
She also said by phone that two other Ukrainian checkpoints south of Dzerzhinsk (5 and 7) had been destroyed, and that territory is now effectively controlled by insurgents. “One of the commanders was torn to pieces,” she added.
The volunteer said that, starting from last week, Kremlin-backed fighters and mercenaries were heavily shelling Dzerzhinsk, and five houses in her district had been ruined.
“Previously they were firing from mortars, now from Grad multiple rocket launchers. The earth is trembling,” she said by phone. “Now there is even machine gun or assault rifle fire nearby.”
The mayor of Dzerzhinsk has left for Egypt, and city authorities are removing Ukrainian flags from administrative buildings, apparently preparing for Russian-backed rebels’ return, the volunteer said.
Apart from attacking Ukrainian troops near Krasny Partizan and Dzerzhinsk, Kremlin-backed fighters are also attempting to surround Ukrainian troops in Debaltseve in Donetsk Oblast.
A local medic told the Kyiv Post that nearly 10 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in this area over the last 24 hours. He said separatists intensified their shelling of Ukrainian troops over the weekend, and made several attempts to encircle the Ukrainian positions in Debaltseve, but without success so far. The medic did not give his name for fear of retaliation.
Kyiv Post staff writers Oksana Grytsenko and Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected] and[email protected]
