Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko stands for the fastest beginning of a real peace process in Ukrainian Donbas possible. The head of state hopes that the ceasefire proposals are executed by all sides.
In particular, according to President Poroshenko, the action plan should contain mutual obligations regarding the bilateral ceasefire, its monitoring and verification on part of the OSCE, the removal of all foreign troops from Ukrainian territory, the establishment of a border buffer zone, the freeing of all hostages and citizens of Ukraine that are being held illegally by terrorists on Russian territory.
President Poroshenko is counting on the joint action plan to become a basis for trilateral contact group consultations on September 5 in Minsk.
Regarding the military situation in the combat zone and at the border
The situation in the antiterrorist operation zone remains threatening. The activation of Russian troops and bandits on territories that constitute a priority for the Russian side within the northern districts of Luhansk oblast and the southern districts of Donetsk oblast remains highly probable. The aim of these actions is to broaden the territory under control of Russian terrorists (SBU information).
The Ukrainian servicemen are regrouping and are ready to rebuke aggression.
Our positions are still being sired out. Through the last 24 hours the Ukrainian armed forces engaged in combat with Russian departments and terrorists near 16 localities 22 times:
In Donetsk oblast: Tonenke, Krasnohorivka, Debaltseva, Maryinka, Verkhnyotoretske, Nikitino, Dmytrivka;
In Luhansk oblast: Vesela Hora, Horodyshche, Kamyanka, Zolote, Pobeda, Valuyske, Poltyna, Fashchivka, Krasnotalivka (Defense Ministry information).
Cynical fire at our positions and localities from Russian territory continues. Throughout the day fire was opened at the village of Stanytsia Luhanska and the city of Luhansk (Border Service information).
The Russians fired at the Krasna Talivka checkpoint (Luhansk oblast). Fire was opened from the village of Prohnoy in Rostov oblast in the Russian Federation. After the first artillery shooting at 10 p.m. a Russian drone investigated the district and entered Ukrainian territory at a depth of 3 kilometer. After this, fire continued. Taking into account the fact that it is not the first artillery shooting at this checkpoint which is officially out of service at the moment, it seems that the Russian side decided to destroy it completely.
The Russians are thus trying to shift the border service away from the border in the area, however Border Service continue to control and defend it (Border Service information).
ATO forces also landed under Russian fire near the villages of Dmytrivka and Pobeda in Novoaydarivsky district of Luhansk oblast (SBU information).
The OSCE confirmed that Ukrainian territory landed under Russian fire. “Throughout the past week artillery explosions and fire were heard only in the western and northern directions. The observers also documented light and heavy-caliber fire from the eastern and southeastern districts bordering with Ukraine for the first time,” says the OSCE report (MFA information).
The terrorists shot at Ukrainian Armed Forces positions form Alchevsk towards Debaltsevo (Donetsk oblast) and fired at the residential area of ‘Druzhba’ in Luhansk (SBU information).
Within the last 24 hours, ATO forces conducted several successful operations which resulted in the destruction of over 120 terrorists and Russian servicemen that got lost.
In the city of Mariupol, National Guard press officers do explanatory work through regional and central media regarding every publicized unreliable report. All Mariupol services work as usual. With the involvement of the local population, National Guard and other ATO united troops departments, work to reinforce the city’s defense potential is begin carried out constantly.
Ukraine commemorates the heroes that gave their lives for freedom and independence. In Olexandriya on the territory of the National Guard aviation base, a memorial plaque was inaugurated commemorating the Mi-8 crew who gave their lives on May 29 during battle under fire of an enemy portable missile launch system. This horrible tragedy took the lives of colonel Segiy Buldovych and captain Sergiy Kravchenko. We note the bravery and heroism of captain Olexandr Makiyenko, navigator pilot of the helicopter squadron who was heavily wounded and who was the only one who survived the attack. A legend, a reliable mentor to his subordinates and commander Mayor General of the National Guard Sergiy Petrovych Kulchitskiy also died in the same helicopter that day (NGU information).
According to official data as of September 4, 837 Ukrainian servicemen died and 3044 were wounded.
We want to emphasize that this data is based on verified facts which were officially confirmed following established procedure. The numbers will be detailed after the end of the operation to remove our servicemen from Ilovaysk ends.
We also want to report that work to generalize the data about the Ukrainian servicemen whose fate remains unknown. As soon as the ministries gather this information, it will be made public.
The situation in conflict zone localities
The situation in cities that are temporarily under terrorist control in the ATO zone remains tense. Russian mercenaries and saboteurs continue ruining Donbas infrastructure. In particular, they continue firing t Donetsk, Luhansk and Alchevsk. Yesterday the bandits also fired at the locality of Yuvileyniy near Luhansk, as well as the locality of Vesela Hora in Slovyanoserbsky district and Katerynivka in Krasnodonsky district of Luhansk oblast. There are civilian casualties. The terrorists mined an automobile bridge near the village of Striltseve in Milovsky district.
As a result of fire, about 5 thousand people in Donetsk remain without gas supply. The mercenaries fired artillery weaponry in Novoazovsky district at the territory of the village of Kachkarske from the village of Markine. In Telmanove, water supply has been cut off due to damage at the water tower (SBU information).
Potable water supplies to Luhansk, Slovyanoserbsk, Olexandrivska, Rayhorodka and Khoroshe have stopped due to the lack of supply of liquid chlorine to the pump station in the village Rayhorodok in Slovyanoserbsky district and the pump station in the village of Petrivka in Stanychno-Luhansky district.
According to operative information, mercenaries in the city of Torez in Donetsk oblast call for the locals to give them personal data to issue Russian passports. The Russian mercenaries offer about 1 thousand UAH to change one’s citizenship.
Besides ruining infrastructure, the Russian mercenaries attempt to spread Russian propaganda on territories under their control. In particular, they started broadcasting 9 Russian channels from the Donetsk TV station on September 3 at 2:40 p.m.
Donetsk radio broadcast station in Torez was left without electricity supply as a result of mercenary fire yesterday at 10 p.m.
Ukrainian communications experts restored the work of the radio broadcast station in Dokuchayevsk of Donetsk oblast this morning, and renewed the broadcast of the Ukrainian Channel One.
The SBU is currently investigating instances of organization and execution of illegal referendums in May of the current year which aimed to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the cities and districts of Luhansk oblast.
In particular, on August 20 charges were announced of committing the crime prescribed in part 2 of article 110 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code to a member of the Bilovodsk district council in Luhansk oblast, who actively participated in the organizations of the pseudo-referendum in support of the so-called ‘LNR’ in May of 2014. According to part 2 of article 110 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, conspirator actions aimed to infringe on the territorial integrity of Ukraine are punishable by a jail sentence of three to five years.
In Dnipropetrovsk oblast, SBU workers uncovered and stopped illegal activities of three members of local Dniprodzerzhynsk councils, representatives of the local Communist Party leadership. In August the criminals organized an anti-Ukrainian protest whose participants painted the Dniprodzerzhinsk stella and the memorial plaque for those fallen in the ATO black and orange as a provocation. During the search of their residences and offices, SBU investigators confiscated two RGD-5 grenades, explosives, issues of Novorossiya propaganda newspaper and Prometheus propaganda booklets. Investigation is underway.
In Kharkiv oblast the investigation department of the SBU pressed charges of state treason against a 41-year-old radio communications engineer on August 29. The traitor, recruited by a Russian Intelligence worker, engaged in undermining activity against Ukraine on orders of the Russian intelligence. In particular, he gave information about ATO radio communication to Russian saboteurs “Abwehr,” “Nos” and “Strelok.” The detainee is currently being questioned.
International support
The NATO summit started in the city of Newport in Northern Wales today. It is planned that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will make a speech at the assembly of the heads of states and governments of the NATO country members and participate in the session of the Ukraine-NATO committee.
The President will begin his participation in the Summit with a meeting with the British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande.
He also plans to hold bilateral meetings with French President Francois Holland, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowsky, Turkish President Rejep Erdogan, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canadian President Steven Harder, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
U.S. President Barack Obama emphasized that political conflict regulation is possible if Russia stops supporting the separatists.
French decided against supplying Russia with the built-to-order Mistral ship. “The French government cannot supply the first of the two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia because of Moscow’s recent actions in Ukraine,” noted the French President. “The President decided that despite the perspective ceasefire…, the conditions of supplying the first carrier were not met,” noted the French President’s press service.
The Parliament of Georgia today unanimously (81 ‘ayes’) passed a resolution regarding the situation in Ukraine by supporting the territorial integrity of our state and accusing Russia of “open military aggression” (MFA data).
Representative of the German Chancellor Stefan Zeibert stated that Berlin sees no reason to stop its course regarding the provision of new EU sanctions against Russia.
The head of the Chancellory of the Slovakian President Jan Šot stated that Slovakia as a NATO member is ready to support measures of member states to provide Ukraine with support to solve the crisis in Donbas (MFA information).
