The Friday ceasefire in eastern Ukraine continues to hold, albeit barely, with both sides continuing to report intermittent artillery fire by the other, and at least one civilian reported slain in Mariupol.
The Ukrainian military blamed “terrorist Russians” for the Mariupol sharing, with one soldier quoted by Reuters terming them “people with no honor” who are “lying all the time.”
The rebels also reported several of their fighters were killed in government shelling in and around Donetsk, mostly centering on rebel forces surrounding the government-held airport.
Amnesty International issued a statement condemning both sides for war crimes, saying that “all sides in this conflict have shown disregard for civilian lives and are blatantly violating their international obligations.” An estimated 2,600 people have been killed in the war, and over one million displaced. The Ukrainian government claims a much larger death toll, if one takes into account its wild stories of massive numbers of slain Russian soldiers.
The "humanitarian" games are starting. The whole western media will go into overdrive on the "horrible Russians", even though it is Kyev and their masters that ordered "terrorist punitive operations" against the population of Eastern Ukraine. Testament to that are thousands dead from shelling and aircraft bombardment, flattened apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, factories.
But now will it all be smothered by propaganda, as if this attempt at exterminating Russians never happened. The fake stories of attrocities will fill the western media — just as it did before, like a cookie cutter — remember Balkans! It will not work in 2014. The world has become quite immune to propaganda drivel. Unfortuantelly, the world has also become a cruel place for real victims. They are lost in the propaganda world, and the credibility gap that divides the West from the Rest.
"The world has become quite immune to propaganda drivel."
I don't know about the rest of the world, but your average fat, stupid, CNN and Faux News-watching, 'USA! USA!" "Thank the Troops"-chanting American slob still seems to be falling for it.
Yes America's Warriors. Now Russia and there proxies are to blame according to tomorrow's headlines and bylines. Oh but if the truce actually did hold, and the sane members of NATO stuck that in the face of the insane members of NATO, the heads of NATO would be just so happy.
This looks more and more like a Russian pull out. Retreat is very difficult, particularly under fire, hence the Putin's desperate need for a ceasefire. The half-empty "aid" trucks were needed to take heavy equipment out of Lugansk. Donetsk is far from the Russian border, hence the interest in Mariupol, which is about 100k directly south of Donetsk and on the coast. Obvioulsy, the Russians are trying to withdraw to Mariupol and then down the coast road to the border or by sea to Taganrog. That's why there's fighting there. The Ukrainian commanders see that the Russians are running, so thery're taking a last few potshots so as to do as much damage as possible, knowing that Putin can do nothing about it. Like so much else about Europe, Americans don't seem to realise that the Ukrainians were the day-to-day managers of the Soviet Union. They are not some primitive, backward people, no match for the mighty and invincible Russian war machine. Essentially, the Ukrainians have won the war and all Putin could do to alter that is to send in hordes of regular Russian troops and rely on the weight of numbers. Foe whatever reason, he didn't want to do that. Bottom line: when it comes against competent regular soldiers, infiltration war doesn't work, even when carried out by highly-trained merceneries or special forces.
"Donetsk is far from the Russian border, hence the interest in Mariupol, which is about 100k directly south of Donetsk and on the coast."
It's only 90 kilometers by road from Donetsk to Novoselovka on the Russian side of the border. So in your imagination, Russian forces are fighting their way across 100 kilometers of enemy territory in order to get to a port and "pull out," when they could just waltz east across mostly friendly-held territory if "pulling out" was their goal.
After having declared unequivocally, that they would not have anything to do with a ceasefire or truce with the separatists (and the Russians), it was the illegal junta that rushed to agree to a ceasefire when it became difficult to control the message that they were actually losing to the easterners. I think it was to just give themselves a little time to figure out what to do next – you know, a time out while they cajole the US/NATO to come bail them out.
Give Cass Sunstein all my love, ok?