US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

Monday, July 21

08:26 GMT:

RT

@RuptlyNewsroom

: our stringer confirms shelling in

#Donetsk

by

#Kiev

forces - footage expected later

— Ruptly (@Ruptly)

July 21, 2014

08:18 GMT:

Ukrainian troops shell swimming beach near Avdeevka, on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk.

08:07 GMT:

Ukrainian troops equipped with tanks and armored vehicles are making an attempt to break into Donetsk, a city of approximately 950,000 people, an official of the rebels' self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Sergey Kavtaradze, informed Reuters.

The fighting is ongoing in several spots simultaneously. The heaviest fire is heard near the Donetsk Airport, currently held by pro-Kiev forces and next to the main railway station, which suffered an airstrike this morning. The city is being shelled with heavy artillery and unguided missiles of multiple launch rocket systems.

DONETSK, July 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Three pipelines on Seversky Donets-Donbass water canal supplying water to east Ukraine’s Donetsk region were damaged in clashes near the local settlement of Gorlovka, the press service of the water canal’s operator reported on Monday.

“In the shelling on July 20 and 21, three lines of pressure pipelines in the area of the settlement of Mykytivka which is situated near the town of Horlivka. During combat actions specialists of the enterprise cannot go to the incident site,” the press service said.

Water supplies along the local canal were partially disrupted.

Edited July 21, 2014 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

Defense Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic Igor Strelkov noted that “Ukrainian army units have broken into the settlement of Avdiivka and are moving to the railway station from there.” “At the same time our positions are attacked near Peski, Karlivka and Netailove,” he said, adding that “Tanks and marines on armored infantry assault vehicles are used with massive support of artillery guns.”

[John Dolva]

Monday, July 21

12:49 GMT:

Kiev says it is not responsible for fighting in Donetsk but there is "small self-organised group who are fighting with the terrorists." FFS

— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) July 21, 2014

12:34 GMT:

Ukrainian special forces have begun the clean-up operation in the town of Dzerzhinsk, according to the Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Geletey.

“The Ukrainian forces have set up a check-point in the Gorlovka area and freed the Peski community, stopping the communication with the village of Karlovka in the Donetsk Region,” the statement said.

Apart from that, the Ukrainian army approached the town of Lisichansk in the Lugansk Region, the minister added.

11:47 GMT:

Spanish RT correspondent Francisco Guaita, who is in Donetsk, has tweeted a picture of "another plume of smoke several kilometers west of the airport" and added that heavy artillery fire could be heard.

Otra columna de humo a varios kilometros al oeste del aeropuerto. Se escucha artileria pesada #Donetsk pic.twitter.com/d5uiYZ3ws2

— Francisco Guaita (@Guaitafran) July 21, 2014

11:43 GMT:

The UK has warned that the Russian economy could face sector-targeted sanctions unless there is an “immediate response [not only] to the crash, but also the very directly-related issues around instability in eastern Ukraine.”

"We should be discussing going further, sectoral measures, tier three," a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron told journalists.

11:34 GMT:

The fighting in east Ukraine costs the government over $130 million a month, the country’s Finance Minister Aleksandr Shlapak stated, as quoted by Reuters.

Kiev had to receive additional funds to continue “the anti-terrorist campaign,” he added.

The country’s GDP is currently falling by 6.5 percent a year. The previous government forecast was 3 percent.

08:26 GMT:

RT @RuptlyNewsroom: our stringer confirms shelling in #Donetsk by #Kiev forces - footage expected later

— Ruptly (@Ruptly) July 21, 2014

[John Dolva]

Summary of events from the battlefields. Despicable tactics Army of Ukraine, from which kill civilians? Military-technical vzaimozavisimst Ukraine and Russia. Really creepy dossier Saboteurs Lugansk put on the ears.

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[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, July 21./ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday demanded that Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states and France conduct a thorough investigation into alleged participation by mercenaries from these countries in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said this while commenting on a story in Italian publication Il Giornale that said the mercenaries took part in a military operation as part of the so-called Azov battalion in eastern Ukraine, whose activity is financed and led by Igor Kolomoisky, an oligarch and Dnepropetrovsk Region governor.

“If information contained in the publication is true, it is a new confirmation of foreign militants’ involvement in the armed intra-Ukrainian conflict of a non-international nature,” it said.

Troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the southeastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

During the military operation, conducted since mid-April, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. According to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, 478 civilians have been killed and 1,392 wounded in it. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s war-torn Southeast.

[John Dolva]

Malaysia delegation rep and Dutch rep now signing to receive #MH17 black boxes from rebels in #Donetsk. pic.twitter.com/RR4oHkcrVf

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) July 21, 2014

Colonel Mohamed Sakri of Malaysian National Security Council said that the two black boxes were "in good condition.”

Earlier, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said an agreement had been reached with militiamen at the scene of the crash that the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 black boxes will be handed over to Malaysian authorities in Donetsk at 9pm Ukrainian time.

The bodies of 282 victims are being moved by train before being flown to Amsterdam for repatriation. At least three refrigerated train carriages with bodies of those killed have departed from the town of Torez, near the site of the crash, to the town of Ilovaysk and are on their way to Donetsk.

[John Dolva]

U.S., media distort facts, blame rebels for plane tragedy

Who gains from plane tragedy?

By Greg Butterfield on July 21, 2014

July 21 — A civilian passenger plane is rerouted over a war zone. The plane crashes mysteriously in rebel-held territory. Within hours, the rebels and an “enemy” government are blamed for deliberately downing the plane and killing everyone aboard.

Welcome to the Reichstag fire, 2014 edition.

In February 1933, fire engulfed the German Reichstag (parliament) in Berlin. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, appointed chancellor weeks before, blamed communists and the Soviet Union, based on the forced confession of a young immigrant.

The fire became a pretext for mass roundups and executions of communists, socialists and trade unionists. The Nazis staged a show trial of leftist leaders.

Today, we have the tragic crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the deaths of nearly 300 passengers — and a rush to judgment by Washington, its European allies and the corporate media, though no investigation has been held and what evidence there is suggests a very different scenario.

The far-right junta in Kiev, Ukraine, immediately declared that rebel forces in Donetsk had shot down the plane on July 18 with weapons supplied by Russia.

Within a day, U.S. President Barack Obama joined the chorus, declaring that Russia and the rebels were guilty. Newspaper headlines shout condemnation, declaring Russian President Vladimir Putin “evil” and the anti-fascist uprising in southeast Ukraine his “thugs.”

The question which needs to be asked — and will not be asked by the big business media — is: Who stands to gain from this tragedy?

Who gains from plane tragedy?

The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Russia had no motive to down a civilian aircraft flying over Ukraine.

On the contrary, this is a serious blow to their efforts to break through the information blockade of the U.S. and Europe, and to get a hearing from international bodies about the war crimes the Kiev regime is carrying out against civilians in southeast Ukraine.

Some progress had been made in that regard, through the hard work of anti-fascist activists like Sergei Kirichuk of Union Borotba (Struggle). Forced into exile by Kiev, Kirichuk has crisscrossed Europe, speaking to activists and left parliamentarians, helping to inspire solidarity networks and raising the resistance perspective in the European Parliament.

The plane’s downing closely followed Putin’s successful Latin America tour — culminating in the BRICS summit, where Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa declared their intention to set up an alternative for developing countries to the U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Further, just a day before Flight MH17 crashed, the Donetsk people’s militia set back the Ukrainian military’s campaign to encircle the capital city of Donetsk. Kiev’s forces had to retreat or face capture. (ITAR-TASS, July 17)

Similarly, the volunteer militia in neighboring Lugansk repelled Ukrainian army attempts to enter their capital twice in a single week, on July 13 and July 19.

Now these hard-fought victories are jeopardized in the tidal wave of hypocritical condemnation by Kiev and its Western backers.

Ukrainian President Peter Poroshenko, who heads a far-right regime of neoliberal politicians, oligarchs and outright fascists, has already called for the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to be declared “international terrorist organizations” following the crash.

Silence on war crimes in Donbass

While global media focus on the plane crash — casting blame without evidence — they have been silent about Kiev’s war crimes.

Kiev’s shelling killed 19 people and wounded 101 in the city of Lugansk and surrounding suburbs and villages July 16 through 18. Mortar and artillery struck homes, schools and medical facilities, as they have throughout the area of tactical operations, in scenes reminiscent of the Israeli siege of Gaza. Ukrainian Grad rockets destroyed the Lisichansk refinery and knocked out the city’s water system and electricity on July 18.

Independent journalist Harriet Salem, who spoke with the Red Cross in Lugansk on July 21, tweeted that they were trapped in a basement office under heavy shelling from the Ukrainian army. The Red Cross reported 44 people killed July 19-20.

Since the beginning of June, 250 civilians have been killed and 850 wounded in Lugansk, according to a report issued by the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on July 19, excluding civilians killed “in close vicinity of combat zones outside of the city and casualties among combatants.” (ITAR-TASS, July 19)

Why is Kiev blocking investigation?

Repeated pleas by the governments of Donetsk and Russia for a speedy international investigation of the crash site have been ignored. Although the site is overrun with journalists, after four days no international investigative team had arrived.

By July 21, after guarding the crash site for several days in preparation for the expected international delegation, the Donetsk militia was forced to gather up the human remains and put them in refrigerated train cars to stave off complete decomposition. (RNS)

“Several dozen experts are currently in Kiev,” Donetsk Prime Minister Aleksander Boroday declared July 19. “Can they please come here faster? We are surprised and frankly angered that we have to keep the area untouched while we are waiting for them so long.” (RT.com, July 20)

Yet the headlines of U.S. media blare that the Donetsk rebels are obstructing the investigation.

Could the delay be because the evidence so far, though not definitive, suggests the Ukrainian military’s possible responsibility for the plane’s destruction?

Kiev and Washington charge, with no evidence, that militia attacked the airliner with a Russian-supplied Buk ground-to-air missile system. The rebels are only known to possess one Buk battery, captured from the Ukrainian military. Military experts doubt that the militia has the additional equipment necessary to operate it, much less successfully target a plane at 33,000 feet.

Journalist Robert Parry — awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984 — asked: “What did U.S. surveillance satellite imagery show? It’s hard to believe that, with the attention that U.S. intelligence has concentrated on eastern Ukraine for the past half year, that the alleged truck of several large Buk anti-aircraft systems from Russia to Ukraine and then back to Russia didn’t show up somewhere.” (CommonDreams.org)

Ukraine, however, does have an operational Buk system, which eyewitness reports — and a U.S. intelligence source cited by Parry — placed in the region on July 17.

On July 21, the Russian military released radar data and satellite photos indicating that a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet tailed the airliner. Kiev must explain why a military fighter was tracking a civilian flight, the Russian Defense Ministry said. (RT.com)

“The key, one undisputed fact we have is that the Ukrainian authorities changed the flight path of MH17 on July 17 and moved it more than 200 miles north — right into a war zone and the very space where Kiev was carrying out, that very day and during that critical moment, combat missions with its air force,” notes political and military analyst Vladimir Suchan.

Washington has a history of using such tactics to escalate a war fever. Consider the 1983 crisis over the shooting down of Korean Airlines flight 007, deliberately rerouted in violation of Soviet airspace to gather intelligence on Soviet air defenses. The Ronald Reagan administration used this incident to bolster its arms buildup against the USSR.

U.S. escalates war danger

Only Kiev and Washington stand to gain from the Malaysian Airline tragedy, using it to further demonize their enemies.

If the airliner was downed by the Donetsk militia — and there is no evidence to suggest they did, or even had the capability — then it was a tragic mistake, not deliberate.

Mistakes do happen in war. The Donetsk militia is composed of volunteers, mostly workers with limited or no prior military experience. Even armed liberation movements with many years of experience have made deadly errors.

While what actually happened is important, what’s most critical is to fight against Washington and Kiev’s propaganda drumbeat. U.S. big business parties and their Ukraine clients are using the tragedy to isolate and terrorize Donbass’ people and prepare steps against Russia.

The breakup of Russia, the incorporation of its skilled workforce, technology and natural resources into the imperialist orbit, and its elimination as a potential rival has been Washington’s long-term strategy since the fall of the Soviet Union. But the introduction of a pro-NATO, Nazi-dominated regime on Russia’s border is a leap forward for them.

Whoever shot down MH17, the U.S., the EU and the right-wing junta in Ukraine are responsible for the ongoing war crimes in Donbass — and for jeopardizing a civilian airliner.

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[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine agreed on Monday to declare a ceasefire in clashes with pro-Kiev forces in the radius of 40 kilometers (25 miles) around the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, according to a leader of the self-proclaimed state.

“This should help to ensure safe work of experts [at the crash site],” Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Boroday said during a news briefing.

Boroday said a large group of international flight safety experts, including officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is expected to arrive in Donetsk soon. It was also reported that Malaysian aviation experts arrived in Donetsk to investigate the crash.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered the country's regular army to stop all military action against independence supporters within a radius of the 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the site of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash.

On Monday, over 800 Ukrainian rescue workers completed their search for the bodies of Malaysian plane crash victims. Search parties scoured an area of 120 square kilometers around the plane crash site.

A total of 282 bodies and 87 body fragments were found at the crash site. The bodies were loaded into refrigerated train cars at a railway station in the city of Torez near the crash site and will be sent to the city of Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman.

Meanwhile, Donetsk self-defense forces told RIA Novosti reporter that a train carrying the bodies of the crash victims departed from Torez, heading toward the town of Ilovaisk in Donetsk Region.

The Malaysia Airlines' passenger plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 when it crashed near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board the airliner died, including 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

Ukrainian government and militia have been trading blame for the alleged downing of the airliner ever since reports suggested foul play, with independence supporters saying they have no required technology to shoot a target at altitude of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

The investigation of the crash has been reportedly hampered by ongoing skirmishes between the warring sides.

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has asked the parliament to earmark 9.1 billion hryvnia ($780 million) to finance the special operation against independence supporters in the country’s east, the ministry’s press service said.

Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said some 6.8 billion hryvnia ($583 million) was allocated for the operation in March. The operation later prompted an additional funding of $51.5 million.

Since July, the operation has been financed by the country’s Reserve Fund, which currently stands at $44.5 million. Ukraine spends some $128.5 million on the operation per month, the minister said calling for “additional funds” to continue the effort.

Funds are also to be allocated to rebuild facilities destroyed during the shelling of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, which have become major hotspots following independence referendums in May.

Ukraine’s combat aircraft reportedly flew over the crash site of a Malaysian passenger plane near Torez, in Donetsk Region, on Monday. Ukraine’s military also fired artillery shells hitting the village of Shaposhnikovo, some 22 kilometers to the south of Torez and 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the crash site.

Speaking about the reports of new offensive in Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Washington is not concerned

Infographics Boeing 777 crash in Ukraine

Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 crashed in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. 280 passengers and 15 crewmembers have died. Infographics by ITAR-TASS

LONDON, July 22. /Roman Podervyansky for ITAR-TASS/. Militiamen in Ukraine have handed over the flight recorders of the crashed Boeing to Malaysian experts, Reuters news agency reports.

It has been reported that the black boxes were passed by the head of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Borodai, and both parties signed a record on this procedure.

“I can see that the black boxes are intact, although a bit damaged. In good condition,” Colonel Mohamed Sakri of Malaysian said. He thanked Alexander Borodai for handing the recorders to representatives of the country, to which the misfortunate jet belonged.

Meanwhile, Borodai informed journalists that the railroad train with the victims’ bodies arrived in Donetsk and proceeded to Kharkiv.

According to The New Straits Times newspaper, Malaysian authorities intend to bring the flight recorders from the Boeing to the homeland. The newspaper says it is yet “difficult to supposehow it would be done, although the works are in progress”.

July 19, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stated that his country has an exclusive right of access to the airliner’s flight recorders. “According to international law, only the plane’s owner has all the rights for the flight data recorders,” Razak explained. “Those, who do not have such rights for the black boxes, shouldn’t embezzle them”. In this regard, the head of the Malaysian cabinet demanded from all parties to comply with international law.

Tuesday, July 22

03:05 GMT:

The Ukrainian government failed to provide the needed protection and assistance to tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens fleeing their homes due to the ongoing fighting between Kiev and the self-defense forces, Human Rights Watch said in a letter addressed to President Petro Poroshenko.

"All displaced people said they received little to no help from the government when they were fleeing from armed conflict areas or when they have sought to secure housing, food, clothing, and other essential items, as well as access to social services," the letter said. "Most also said that they did not receive any information about agencies or governmental bodies they could turn to for help.”

The UN Security Council has condemned the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, called for an international probe into the incident in a unanimously adopted resolution.

All 15-member states voted to pass the Australia-proposed resolution, condemning “in the strongest terms” the crash of Malaysian plane on July 17 in Donetsk region of Ukraine, which resulted in 298 people dead.

Follow Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash in Ukraine LIVE UPDATES

The UN also urged a "full, thorough and independent international investigation" into the incident. The resolution also asked local self-defense forces for their cooperation, such as avoiding “from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site.”

Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said he was pleased that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will have an important role during the investigation and welcomed that fact that the Netherlands will take on the leading role as well.

"We could not simply allow the Security Council to endorse a Ukrainian-led investigation because we have no trust in their intention to conduct a truly objective investigation," Churkin told reporters following the resolution.

Security Council condemns downing of Malaysian airliner, calls for international probe http://t.co/KD9mD8nR5z @UN pic.twitter.com/h9TqGCoDTw

— UN News Centre (@UN_News_Centre) July 21, 2014

Ukraine will have to answer a lot of questions during the international investigation, Churkin said during his speech at the UN Security Council, adding that Kiev spread fake information allegedly connecting the self-defense forces to the downing of the plane.

“Throughout the investigation Ukraine would have to answer many questions: about the actions of its air traffic controllers, the reasons for the movement of one of the Ukrainian Buk missile systems on July 17 right next to the area controlled by the militias. Why this missile defense system was moved immediately after the airplane crash? Why on July 17 Ukrainian air defense radar worked at the maximum intensity?” Churkin said.

Debris is seen at the site of Thursday's Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo, in the Donetsk region July 18, 2014 (Reuters / Maxim Zmeyev)

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Security Council that the resolution is an "unambiguous response from the international community to an utterly deplorable act."

She also encouraged Russia to use its influence in the area to make sure self-defense forces comply with the UN’s request for cooperation.

The Netherlands agreed with Australia. “I hope that Russia will now feel its responsibility, act on its responsibility. If it doesn't, it's going to have an increasingly isolated position in the international world," said Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans, who traveled to New York for the Security Council meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the logistics of the international investigation into the downing of the Malaysian plane with the Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a telephone conversation, according to a Kremlin statement published early on Tuesday. Both leaders praised the adopted resolution by the UN Security Council to investigate the crash.

[John Dolva]

05:51 GMT:

Collapsed railway bridge near Donetsk.

LONDON, July 22. /Roman Podervyansky for ITAR-TASS/. Militiamen in Ukraine have handed over the flight recorders of the crashed Boeing to Malaysian experts, Reuters news agency reports.

DONETSK/BALI (Indonesia), July 22 (RIA Novosti) – A group of Malaysian experts traveling to the Boeing crash site near Donetsk witnessed an attack carried out by Ukraine’s aviation against independence supporters, a local militia spokesman accompanying the vehicles told RIA Novosti.

The group of 12 experts and government officials arrived in Donetsk from Kharkiv on Monday afternoon. They came later than expected as Ukraine’s military shelled a railway station and attempted to seize the village of Pesky and Dzerzhynsk, a city to the north of Donetsk.

Five local civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the attack, the Donetsk mayor’s office said. Seven militiamen and scores of National Guard members were killed in clashes in Dzerzhynsk.

A reporter of Malaysia’s Star newspaper Patrick Lee wrote, “As we arrived at the Donetsk train station after a four-hour journey across eastern Ukraine, gunshots rang out. Civilians ran helter-skelter, looking for cover.”

“When we arrived here, we came face to face with the escalating conflict, a matter which will likely make it more difficult for investigators to access the MH17 crash site,” he said.

Shortly after arriving in Donetsk, the group decided to go to the crash site near the city of Torez, where they were expected to examine the train containing the bodies of the victims.

A militia member said the group witnessed a Ukrainian airstrike targeting a highway and one vehicle was burnt.

The experts later returned to Donetsk where the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic handed over to them the black boxes from the crash. The train carrying bodies arrived later in the city.

Malaysian experts plan to travel to the crash site later oLONDON, July 22. /Roman Podervyansky for ITAR-TASS/. Militiamen in Ukraine have handed over the flight recorders of the crashed Boeing to Malaysian experts, Reuters news agency reports.n Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Monday declared a 40 kilometer area around the site a demilitarized zone, and Donetsk militia agreed to observe the regime.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Monday demanding that those responsible for this incident be held to account and all military activities be immediately ceased near the crash site to allow for security and safety of the international probe.

[John Dolva]

Events Novorossia

Summary of events from the battlefields.

Today, 1:32 | Category: Events , Editor's Note

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With regard to the distribution of forces, the situation is very difficult in Donetsk. According to militia and civilians of the city, for the airport underway in heavy fighting. In this case, it is worth noting that the military action taken "West" and the space between the bus station Krasnogvardeiskiy highway, streets Stratonavtov, Artemovskaya and Marshal Zhukov.

Eyewitnesses say that the city could break invaders fighting vehicles, namely 2 and 4 armored tank.

According to the Chief of the forces of the DNI - Igor Strelkov fascists broke into Avdiyivka then fighting vehicle went towards the train station. In addition, organized attack on militia positions, which are located in the area Karlivka, Sands and Netaylovo.

Upon occurrence, the Nazis used the infantry fighting vehicles, tanks and armored vehicles, support for terrorist forces exerted multiple rocket launchers and cannon artillery.

Fifteen armored vehicles stormed into Debaltsovo, fights go in Dzerzhinsk. Airport city is also a center for serious fighting, go shelling.
In general, the invaders made another attempt to sweep away the militias they come in all directions, on how to cope with the forces of resistance, on the fate of New Russia.

To avoid a large number of civilian casualties, Igor Gunmen imposed a curfew and Donetsk City Council asks people not to leave their homes. It is, moreover, with almost no sense, as the Nazis did not provide a humanitarian corridor to leave the city.

Hang on, the heroes of our time, your names forever go down in history as the victors in the struggle against the fascist regime and genocide. Though not in the fratricidal war can be won, our brothers win. Let broken punitive hatred of indomitable Russian spirit!

Sergei Lyzhin
Central News Agency Novorossia
Novorus.info

[John Dolva]

Tensions are running high near the Malaysia plane crash site after the Ukrainian military carried out an attack 30 kilometers away. The rumble of "Grad" RM systems can be heard in the vicinity - all despite the 40-kilometer ceasefire zone.

Ukrainian Su-25 fighter detected in close approach to MH17 before crash - Moscow

Ukrainian militia hand over MH17 flight recorders to Malaysia

The latest attack involved “Grad” RM systems, which shelled an area some 50 kilometers from the plane crash site, an Ria Novosti news agency reporter said from the scene.

It was not clear who the RM systems belonged to.

Earlier on, the Ukrainian air forces carried out a missile strike in 30 kilometers from the MH17 crash site – despite the 40-kilometer ceasefire.

About 11.30 local time (8.30 GMT), two Ukrainian military planes, thought to be Su-25s, were spotted in the skies above the town of Shakhtersk, which is 30 kilometers from the crash site.

Missiles hit a field near the town - one of them exploded 200 meters from a check-point, according to a Ria Novosti correspondent.

A crater was seen at the spot of the explosion. As yet, there have been no reports of any victims.

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the West should address its calls for a ceasefire not only to eastern Ukraine independence supporters, but to the Kiev government as well.

“Yesterday, when the self-defense forces were handing over the so-called black boxes [of the crashed Malaysian plane], Ukraine’s armed forces have launched a tank attack on Donetsk. Tanks broke through to the railway station and attacked it. International experts at the crash site had to take cover. Why would armed militia open fire on its own positions?” Putin said during Russia’s Security Council meeting.

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine is ruled by the leaders, who lack the ability to act independently and simply follow orders from the West, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday.

"The power [in Ukraine] was seized by Western henchmen, who, in my opinion, have lost to some extent their sovereignty, independency in decision-making, and simply follow orders,” Patrushev said during a meeting of Security Council in Moscow.

Patrushev stressed that the Western-backed leaders disregard objective information and interpret the facts the way that fits their political goals.

He also urged to draw the “right conclusions” from the unfolding events in Ukraine, stressing that the coup d’état in Ukraine wouldn’t have taken place if the interests of “certain Western states coincided with the actions of the Ukrainian government at that time.”

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia have secured the Donetsk Airport and stopped Ukrainian Army’s attack on the city, representatives of the self-proclaimed state said Tuesday.

“Donetsk Airport was secured by DPR self-defense forces. [ukrainian Army’s] attempts to seize it was thwarted. The enemy’s armed units suffered numerous losses during the fight,” the DPR wrote on its official Twitter page.

The militia also stopped pro-Kiev forces' offensive near Donetsk, according to the DNR.

"Self-defense forces managed to advance further on several locations," the self-proclaimed republic said.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 23, 2:23 /ITAR-TASS/. Self-defence forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Tuesday took control over two settlements near the border with Russia, the Novorssiya news agency reported, citing DPR Defence Minister Igor Strelkov.

“I confirm that our units took control over the settlements of Kozhevnya and Chervonaya Zarya,” he said, adding that fighting was underway near Dubrovka.

13:11 GMT:

The Ukrainian army has reportedly entered the cities of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk in the Lugansk region and taken control of main administrative buildings in both cities. Three columns of armored vehicles entered the towns from opposite directions, after heavy shelling of the area last night. Self-defense forces have reportedly withdrawn from the area, leaving behind several covering teams. Ukrainian army and national guards units are conducting a flushing-out operation to establish full control of the area.

08:13 GMT:

Five civilians have died and 16 have been injured over the last 24 hours following attacks on Lugansk, according to the city council website.

There were 137 ambulance alerts, 16 of them concerned gunshot wounds and traumas among the civilian population, the statement also read.

Post Alexei Brain

Yesterday, forty past three p.m. | Category: Events , Editor's Note

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Alexei Brain reports that during the fighting around Lysychansk "Stopped large group of armored vehicles. Destroy the tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and two trucks with ammunition to install "GRAD". For Ukrainian army is small losses, which they will not even talk. We lost guys today as ever ... Soldiers did not retreat from his fortified single step! Stood until recently, but have not missed a column of tanks. With those weapons that we have, they could only die. Of the ten RPGs worked only three! Nothing else we can not oppose the tanks! Where are the columns that are in Lugansk, Donetsk??? Where is the artillery, which is so fun to write on the Internet??? Where the tanks, which are full of videos with the vast online communities??? Where is everybody? Whose ass protects all this technology???
Today I lost almost a whole platoon .... Guys just crushed by tanks. We were not even given to collect the bodies and the wounded - they finished off natsgvardeytsy. After that I myself half dead. But I swear! If I survive, I'll have to kneel in front of the graves of those who PR on this war, and builds his political future! I'll make suffer those who earn their living children who die for the truth! ".
Central News Agency Novorossia
Novorus.info

[John Dolva]

There seems to be a comprehensive information blackout at the moment. It appears from scattered reports that the people fighting are under a heavy multi pronged assault from the west sponsored kiev fascists and that various news sources are having difficulties in providing any details.

I'll keep posting as I come across reports.