La Russie a massé environ 20 000 soldats près de la frontière avec l’Ukraine et pourrait prétexter une mission humanitaire ou de maintien de la paix pour envahir l’est de ce pays, déclare l’Otan mercredi 6 août dans un communiqué au ton alarmiste.
"Nous n’allons pas deviner ce que la Russie a en tête mais nous pouvons observer ce que la Russie fait sur le terrain, et c’est une source de grande inquiétude. La Russie a massé environ 20 000 soldats prêts au combat à la frontière orientale de l’Ukraine", écrit Oana Lungescu, porte-parole de l’Otan, dans un communiqué. "Ce renforcement militaire russe aggrave encore la situation et sape les efforts destinés à parvenir à une solution diplomatique à la crise. C’est une situation dangereuse", ajoute-t-elle.
Les forces ukrainiennes s'approchent de Donetsk
Depuis plusieurs jours, les combats s'intensifient autour de Donetsk, la plus grande ville du bassin houiller du Donbass - un million d'habitants avant les hostilités -, faisant craindre un assaut et des combats particulièrement meurtriers. Mercredi, un porte-parole militaire ukrainien, Andrii Lyssenko, a annoncé que "18 militaires ukrainiens [avaient] été tués et 54 blessés" dans des combats dans l'est du pays en l'espace de 24 heures.
La stratégie affichée jusqu'à présent par Kiev est d'isoler les insurgés à Donetsk jusqu'à épuisement de leurs ressources. L'objectif est notamment de les couper de la frontière russe, par laquelle transitent, selon les autorités ukrainiennes et les Occidentaux, armes et combattants, ce qui explique les sanctions économiques sans précédent décrétées contre la Russie.
Avec AFP
http://www.france24.com/fr/20140806-russie-ukraine-soldats-frontiere-crainte-assaut-otan-humanitaire-morts-donetsk/
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- Ukraine Military: 18 Soldiers Killed in Fighting Near Donetsk
Spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said government forces had clashed with separatists 25 times in parts of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border in the 24 hours up to Wednesday morning as they continued to squeeze rebel positions.
Ukrainian forces, Lysenko said, had again been shelled from inside Russian territory while Ukrainian frontier guards near the border town of Luhansk had come under a four-hour mortar and artillery attack.
“In the past 24 hours 18 service personnel have been killed in battle and 54 have been wounded,” he told journalists, saying casualties had been sustained in several different incidents in the east.
Airstrikes near Donetsk
Meanwhile, residents in Donetsk, east Ukraine's main industrial hub and now the main redoubt of the rebels, said Ukrainian warplanes had carried out airstrikes overnight.
The airstrike hit the Kalininsky neighborhood only 5 kilometers (3 miles) east of Donetsk's central square. It was the first airstrike to hit close to the center of Donetsk since Ukrainian forces heavily bombarded the airport in May in their bid to halt the insurgency in the industrial east of the country.
Lysenko, questioned over the reports, denied that Ukrainian planes had carried out airstrikes on the town of nearly 1 million and said the only Ukrainian plane near the town had been an aircraft providing communications support for troops on the ground.
Previously, Kyiv has accused the rebels of firing at civilian areas. But the government has offered little evidence to prove their claims, which Human Rights Watch and others have questioned.
“The Ukrainian military does not bomb the towns of Donetsk and Luhansk or any other similar populated places,” he said.
The rebels said the strike occurred at 12:40am (2140 GMT).
But the strike came as Kyiv signaled a harder push to retake the disputed area.
On Wednesday, the spokesman for the Ukrainian operation in the east, Oleksiy Dmitrashkivsky, told the French news agency AFP: "The noose is tightening around Donetsk, Lugansk and Gorlivka," the main rebel strongholds.
"Our forces are regrouping, maneuvering and engineers are strengthening the fortification of roadblocks, preparing for the liberation of these cities," he added.
Military losses
Ukraine's military has made major advances over the past month and says it has almost cut off Donetsk from the Russian border and second rebel bastion of Lugansk.
But amid these advances government forces have continued to face heavy bombardments. Wednesday's announcement that 18 soldiers had been killed and 54 injured in fighting over the past 24 hours was the highest daily toll in weeks.
Three civilians were also killed overnight amid shelling on different suburbs of Donetsk, the city council said. This included two deaths already announced Tuesday evening.
Government troops have been battling the rebels since April in the Russian-speaking east in a conflict which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says has cost the lives of more than 1,100 people, including government forces, rebels and civilians.
The Red Cross has labeled the conflict in east Ukraine a civil war.......................................http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-military-18-soldiers-killed-in-fighting-near-donetsk/1972708.html
6/8/14
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Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel on the German side’s initiative....
ReplyDeleteThe two leaders continued their exchange of views on the development of the acute crisis situation in Ukraine. Mr Putin paid special attention to the incessant military operations by the Ukrainian security agencies in southeast Ukraine that lead to the loss of many lives and escalation of humanitarian problems. The President of Russia stressed that the authorities in Kiev are responsible for the resulting situation.
The two heads of state positively assessed the resumption of work by the Contact Group, as well as the work of the recently deployed OSCE observer mission at the Donetsk and Gukovo checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The Russian side noted the importance of establishing a real political dialogue between the authorities in Kiev and representatives from protesting regions.
Mr Putin and Ms Merkel agreed to continue dialogue on Ukrainian issues at various levels.
http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/22782