If the crash site is supposed to be a safe zone
would someone explain why the Ukraine government is attacking its citizens with rockets.
That just broke on BBC.
= new reply since forum marked as read
In fact, when it was happening I happened to be less than two miles away. 5 dead, 1 seriously wounded.
Oddly, I didn't know anything about it.
The problems are numerous.
The fighting in NW Donetsk is about 60 km from the plane crash as the bird flies. However, if you go to the extreme east edge of Donetsk and the extreme west edge of the search zone, it's about 40 km. Strelkov-Girkin announced a counterattack himself, proudly. The Russian side only reports Ukr violations unless it's a glorious victory for the rebels. During the 10-day unilateral ceasefire the Russian press even failed to report Poroshenko's "ceasefire, but if we're attacked we're certainly going to fight back for all we're worth". So the rebels would attack, the Ukr forces would fight back, and that "fighting back" was billed as a ceasefire violation. Selective reporting is worse than out-and-out falsehood; partial truths are often the most convincing lies.
Some of the "fighting" in Donetsk the Ukr government claims not to know about, but it's clear that they're not near the area where there was some heavy damage done in the last couple of days. It suggests that perhaps partisans are involved. I figure that's a cynical statement from the Ukr because they're tired of saying that the rebels are attacking "their own" (when that's hardly the case--if a group of kadyrovtsy kill Ukrainians, let's face it--that's not "their own"
. Too many videos and eye-witnesses have claimed in too many towns and cities to have seen a Grad launcher fire in one direction, towards Ukr forces, and then turn around and fire in the other direction where there were no Ukr forces. Too many videos of shells coming in at low angles, 15-20 degrees, when that means they were fired from short range ... inside rebel territory.
To the south there was fighting. A number of positions held by Ukr were shelled overnight. Some from the Russian side, some from the rebel side. There's a narrow neck near Saur-Mogila that's been a favorite area for fighting.
To the east there was the report of a column of 20 tanks/armored fighting vehicles that crossed the border with 24 trucks with fighters, ammo, and over a dozen Grad missile launches. I'd expect that even if it violated the ceasefire, if that column of materiel got within the 40 km limit they'd still take it out. Putin's more cynical even than I--the more his guys are bloodied, the more strenuous the calls for an immediate ceasefire, the more exacting the requirements that the Ukr fulfill their deal, the more insistent the demand for international invention, and the greater the number of armored vehicles, Grads, and fighters. The Buks crossed the border into Ukr as the Ukr airforce was handing the rebels their asses in a sling and coming very close to cutting off all access the rebels had to the border.
Did you know that Strelkov just announced with joy that there are a couple hundred Serb chetniki that joined his forces yesterday? Their hero is a Serb nationalist who fought with Hitler; they claim to continue in the footsteps of those who fought for a Greater Serbia, and even staged a massacre of a thousand Muslims in Srebrenica. In 1942. Then, 60 years or so later, the day after the memorial marking the anniversy of the Milosevic/Karadzic massacre the chetniki donned their uniforms and marched to celebrate the anniversary of the 1942 massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica.
Strelkov hates Banderites because they are the continuation of the fascists who fought against the USSR with Hitler for a nationalist cause, a free Ukraine for Ukrainians. Strelkov loves him some Chetniki that fight with him--even though they are the continuation of fascists who fought against Tito's Communists with Hitler for a nationalist cause, a free Greater Serbia for Serbians. For Strelkov, "fascist" =: anti-Russian. So now the pro-rebel side has a grand history of fighters who went with Hitler and engaged in massive cleansing, not of Jews, but of Muslims.
Enjoy.
