UPDATE at the BOTTOM- scroll down for update, unless you haven't read all the news. News roundup! : Rebels kill 23 Ukraine troops, shredding truce hopes
Ukraine's military on Friday reported losing 23 servicemen in clashes across the separatist east that threatened to shatter slim Western hopes of a truce in Europe's deadliest conflict in decades.The defence ministry said the toll included 19 troops who died in a hail of rockets fired from a truck-mounted Grad rocket launcher system -- a type of weapon both Kiev and Washington insist could only have been covertly supplied to the rebels by Russia.The official spokesman of Ukraine's intensifying eastern assault added that 93 servicemen had sustained "wounds and contusions of varying severity".
Friday's official death toll is the highest since Poroshenko tore up a brief ceasefire with the rebels on July 1 and relaunched an offensive that managed to dislodge the militias from key eastern strongholds they had held since early April.
I know nothing of this "Grad rocket launcher system"? So if anyone can help out?Would this have come from Russia as Kiev & Washington are claiming?Article below suggests Russian design. Kiev fascists call emergency meeting- Ukraine President Calls Emergency Meeting
Ukrainian military officials said the rebels bombarded government forces stationed in the village of Zelenopillya, Luhansk region at 5 a.m. local time with rockets from a Russian-designed Grad system. Militants fired from a distance of more than 15 kilometers, and an air strike was carried out in response, according to the Defense Ministry.
The officials noted that casualties could be higher. Zoryan Shkyryak, an interior ministry adviser, told reporters in Kiev the exact death toll was difficult to discern.
The attack marks the biggest loss of life in a month. In June, rebels used man-powered air-defense systems, or MANPADS, to shoot down a military transport plane at Luhansk airport, killing all 40 servicemen and nine crew on board.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened a meeting with military and law-enforcement officials to discuss the rebels’ use of multiple rocket launchers against the country’s servicemen, the president's press service reported.
"Everything is shutting down," said a man in his fifties as he listened to the echoes of gunfire rolling in from a fierce clashes being waged on Friday morning outside Donetsk International Airport,"There is nothing to do here. No work -- and it is getting too dangerous," he said.
This video accompanies the second linked article. I am really not sure what is being shown. Can anyone help, please? Poroshenko is deranged! The bloodlust is sickening.Poroshenko threatens to kill hundreds per each killed government soldier
President Petro Poroshenko on Friday held a conference with top officials of the Armed Forces, security and Interior agencies after the death of several dozen Army servicemen in the Luhansk region, a report at the official presidential website said, APA reports quoting Itar-Tass.
The president said in part it was important to track down and to physically eliminate everyone who was responsible for the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers, security and interior officers.
“The militants (the way that the Kiev authorities refer to the fighters of volunteer self-defense forces in Eastern Ukraine. — ITAR-TASS) will pay tens and even hundreds of their own lives for a life of each our soldier (they kill),” quoted Poroshenko as saying
Bashar Assad never uttered such words of vengeance. Janes- Analysis: Turning point in Ukraine Conflict?
The capture of Slovy(i)ansk and Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine by Kiev's forces on 5 July marked a key symbolic turning point in the ongoing conflict there, yet its strategic importance is less clear
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed the capture of the cities, stating on 8 July: "All Ukraine today is proud of its armed forces."However, key question marks remain over whether the Ukrainian military will be able to successfully maintain its current momentum.
I would suggest the Ukraine "military" has lost their momentum.The days are already shortening here in the northern hemisphere... Is this fact weighing on Germany? Europe risks ‘significant’ gas shortages this winter
Europe faces a “significant risk” of gas shortages this winter if there is any disruption to Russian supplies through Ukraine, one of the continent’s leading energy executives has warned.Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total, the French oil major, told the Financial Times that Europe could struggle to find alternative sources of supply, even without Moscow retaliating against western sanctions by cutting energy supplies.“Not only Total but the industry is saying: be careful. It has nothing to do with an embargo. But if for technical reasons, if for sabotage reasons there is a shortage, yes, we will have difficulties in providing gas from other sources,” he said.MORE
UPDATE! And one I believe to be important...The International Civilian Aviation Organization (ICAO) allegedly claims that Crimea belongs to the Ukraine.Or so some media outlets are reporting? Washington Post bolstering the narrative out of Kiev. Or Kiev bolstering the Washington line?
Makysm Burbak, Ukraine’s infrastructure Minister, made the announcement in Kiev on Monday.
As usual we have a contradictory reporting- ICAO takes Russia's side on Crimean airspace
The International Civil Aviation Organization believes that air navigation services over Crimea and its territorial waters should be provided by Russia, while Ukraine should be in charge of the open sea.
He said/She said.Previous post- Hypocrisy alert! Kiev neonazis target LGBT club and the NATO media is silent?