Grouping of Armed Forces surrounded, but holds Ilovaisk

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - 11:43 (EEST) Section: Latest news

According to the commander of the battalion Donbas, the artillery of the Armed Forces was broken by the enemy Grad rocket launchers.
Starobesheve and Kuteinykove are blocked, all the penetrating force of the Ukrainian security forces is in the operational encirclement, but holds Ilovaisk.
Donbas battalion commander Semen Semenchenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Describing the situation in Ilovaisk, he reported that on August 26, after a morning breakout from Novoazovsk, the situation was completely under control.
“Anxiety symptoms began later. First, a unit of the Armed Forces has willfully left the position, which was to provide for defense of the rear of the group, which liberated Ilovaisk. The artillery was broken by Grad rocket launchers and the rest departed, leaving some mortars. Then, the enemy made another blow with tanks from the area of Mospino. They went through Starobesheve and were stopped after 15 km by a barrier of the artillery and tanks of the Armed Forces. A blow was also inflicted in the area of Olenivka,” he writes.
Semenchenko also said that after the three strikes (from Novoazovsk, a breakout of the group near the D sector, a breakthrough of the group from Mospino), Starobesheve and Kuteinykove) were blocked. Finally, another group of the Armed Forces departed and all the grouping is caught in an operational encirclement.
“In Ilovaisk now there are units of Donbas battalion of the National Guard, Interior Ministry battalion Dnipro, Interior Ministry battalion Kherson, Interior Ministry battalion Svitiaz and Interior Ministry battalion Peacemaker, as well as a composite company of the 93rd and 17th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are enough troops to hold the city. I will not discuss the solutions that can be done for two reasons: the operational command of the group is done by General X., I handed over the command of the battalion to the Chief of Staff immediately after I had withdrawn from the ranks. All options that I will write to you or you will advise me will immediately become known to the enemy,” Semenchenko said.