Yesterday the President of Ukraine Poroshenko paid a working visit to Lviv region; particular attention was paid to the improvement of the defense capabilities of the state.
In particular, the President visited the Hetman Sahaydachnyi Academy of Land Forces of Ukraine. The President pointed out the Academy’s remarkable contribution into fostering of a new generation of servicemen. In the time of active hostilities taking place in the Anti-Terrorist Operation area, 62 officers – graduates of the Academy – were decorated with state awards, including the Hero of Ukraine Yevhen Zelenskyi.
During his speech addressed to the staff and students of the Academy, Poroshenko said that the reform of the defense sector of the country was a priority. “By the end of the year, an action plan on reforming the defense sector of Ukraine will be submitted to the Parliament; it will significantly improve the efficiency of the armed forces and law enforcement units, make them well stocked, mobile and well-equipped,” he said.
Also during his stay Poroshenko visited Lviv Armored equipment repair factory, repairing heavy military equipment.
The President was informed of the production capacity of the factory; he also examined a sample of a new armored vehicle “Dozor” (Eng. – Watch), which will be put into series production. The armor of the new vehicle was tested. The armored vehicle stood through the test; thus, our military men will be protected.
Poroshenko stressed that the defense industries will be provided with sufficient support.
The Situation in the ATO Areas
The situation in the east of Ukraine remains complicated. Terrorists continue violating the cease-fire agreement and launch attacks on the ATO forces’ positions.
Donetsk airport remains the priority target for the terrorists. The militants have resorted to several unsuccessful attempts to assault the airport, and then continued shelling the facilities. Ukrainian troops repulsed all attacks, and destroyed 12 terrorists.
During the assault, the attackers used smoke bombs, which resulted into social networks’ users disseminating information about the use of gas. We once again urge people not to spread unverified information, harmful to the military, including those who heroically defended the airport.
It should be reminded that yesterday our military in Donetsk airport received reinforcement; a partial rotation of the defenders took place.
Also, yesterday there was a certain aggravation in Telmanovo, Donetsk region. Near Orlovske village, the terrorists fired mortars and attacked the company stronghold of the ATO forces. The attack was warded off. Near Starohnativka village, there was a clash between our military and a group of terrorists, who tried to break through the junction between the platoon strongholds of ATO forces. The attack was also repulsed, the terrorists suffered losses.
The situation in Mariupol is fully controlled; all services are running in the regular mode.
Two servicemen were killed in the last 24 hours; the total number of wounded Ukrainian soldiers is being verified.
The situation at the stretches of the border with the Russian Federation, controlled by our border guards, is calm; there were neither clashes nor attacks.
During the inspection of the area near Sartana settlement, Donetsk region, the border duty squad discovered three units of RPG-26 in a package and three boxes of F-1 grenades in an abandoned building.
Records of Russian military equipment movements in Crimea keep coming in. Yesterday at 12.20 near Chervonyi Chaban settlement, Kherson region, on the administrative border with Crimea, the movement of two tanks, two armored personnel carriers (APCs), and one “Ural” was detected.
At 15.50, near the administrative border of Crimea, between Kalanchak-Armiansk driveway and forest shelter belt, border guards found 10 tented units of heavy equipment (tentatively, tanks or APCs).
The Situation in the Populated Areas of ATO
A terrorist organization “DNR” is trying to falsify the cause of death of the Red Cross representative in Donetsk. Operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs got a confirmation of yet another mechanism, employed by the militants of the so-called “DNR”, for covering up their crimes by using the Russian media.
It should be reminded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed deep regret and condolences regarding the tragic death of a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Swiss citizen, who was killed in a result of the terrorists firing at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the city of Donetsk.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Yuriy Sergeyev, at a briefing in New York, mentioned the existence of reasonable evidence of the projectile that killed an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Donetsk coming from the territory controlled by the terrorists.
Ukraine pledges to conduct full and open investigation into this incident within the available resources.
In the city of Stakhanov, Luhansk region, terrorists introduced a “curfew”. Persons who violate the curfew are detained by the militants and ‘sentenced’ to ‘community service’ in areas controlled by the terrorists.
In towns of Rovenky and Antratsit, Luhansk region, armed terrorists went door-to-door and forcibly removed Ukrainian passports of the locals.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has provided evidence of crimes against humanity, committed by the militants in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The scale of such crimes is depicted by the map, which bears the locations of the concentration camps arranged by the terrorists, torture chambers of the terrorists’ retaliatory organizations, places of torture and executions of civilians, mass graves of murdered people.
This map is based on the information, which is provided to the Security Service of Ukraine by crime witnesses through the SBU hotline around the clock. This evidence is fully supported by the objective data of satellite images, intercepted telephone conversations of the militants, data uncovered by SBU counterintelligence, confessions of the criminals, detained and arrested according to the rulings of respective Ukrainian courts.
These accounts of counter-evidence indicate that on the territories temporarily controlled by the terrorists they have introduced inhumane practices, which do not meet standards of international law and humanity.
SBU encourages the citizens, whose close relatives were either murdered by terrorists or went missing, to provide such information to the hotline 0-800-501-482.
International Reaction to Developments in Ukraine
While presenting her speech at the German Day of Unity, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Russia disregarded world principles of peaceful co-existence and openly defied international law and the principles of territorial integrity. Germany’s head of government also pointed out that the sanctions of all 28 EU Member States comprise Europe’s united and firm answer to Russia’s actions.
Miroslav Lajcak, Slovak Vice-Prime Minister and Chief of Foreign Affairs Ministry, assured that Bratislava would continue reverse supplies of natural gas to Ukraine, despite Russia reducing their gas supplies to the Slovak Republic almost by half. The Lithuanian Seim called for creating a mutual fund for supporting Ukraine’s military, which would collect voluntary contributions from EU Member States in the amount of 1%-3% of finance allocated to the EU structural funds. The documentation for such proposal is planned to be presented to the EU leaders in December 2014.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the violation of cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where it noted that Russia still had not taken any particular measures to call off its armed forces and military equipment from the eastern regions of Ukraine and the territory of Crimea, despite the enormous efforts put by the international community into the peaceful resolution of the conflict. In its statement, the Ministry also mentioned that the Russian side had not created the needed conditions to return the border area under the control of Ukrainian border guards, neither had it acted to free all the hostages, nor to stop provocations. Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the shelling of the International Committee of Red Cross office in Donetsk on October 2, 2014, which caused the death of an employee of the ICRC, and emphatically denounces the growing number of cease-fire violations over the past few days that resulted in new victims.”
