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What is interesting about this article is that for the first time in Kiev news of the Debaltsevo cauldron (which we've know about for week) is finally coming out.
The Kyiv Post is painting the emergency as being part of the "military emergency" involving yet another "Russian invasion"
I suspect it has more to do with Petro Poroshenko not having any control over the situation any more and trying to fend off a coup by elements more radical than him.
The Right Sector has stated it won't observe any ceasefire and they are almost certainly behind the violation just a few hours ago.
Meanwhile the western media which hasn't reported on ANY of this is probably waiting to see how to react.
Poroshenko
will impose martial law if cease-fire fails
Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko said martial law will be introduced
throughout Ukraine if the cease-fire fails to start at midnight
tonight, as agreed in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 12.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaks during a joint press conference with President of the European Council Donald Tusk during a European Union summit at the EU Headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 12.
14
February, 2015
“Even
before Minsk... I warned that we will have to, if there is no peace,
take a very difficult but necessary decision to introduce martial
law," Poroshenko said today. “I stress once again that in this
case the martial law will be introduced not just in Donetsk and
Luhansk, but in the whole country."
Introduction
of martial law means that Ukraine's army gets to control the streets
and impose curfews, ban parties and other organizations, as well as
mass gatherings, conduct searches and introduce censorship. It's also
allowed to claim property of businesses and private individual if
needed.
Ukraine's
army said there has been no sign that the cease-fire is going to
start in the east. Moreover, fights intensified in some areas, most
notably close to Debaltseve, a strategic railroad junction between
Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts.
Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian journalist
and editor of censor.net news
portal, who covers the war in the east, wrote on his Facebook page
that Debaltseve was surrounded by separatists, trapping thousands of
servicemen.
Andriy
Lysenko, a government military spokesman, did not confirm the
information, but said there was “heavy fighting" close to
Debaltseve, and the pro-Russian separatists gained territory in the
area. “The terrorists continue to move to Ukraine's territory
additional manpower and stock military equipment," Lysenko said.
He
also said seven Ukrainian servicemen were killed in attacks and 23
were wounded in 24 hours. He also claimed that 100 "terrorists"
had been killed, but offered no verifying information in his daily
briefing on Feb. 14.
Poroshenko
also said more military gear was being moved to the area.
"Our
partners and friends, relying on their own intelligence, confirm not
only the presence of Russian tanks, rocket launchers, armored
personnel carriers in the vicinity of Debaltseve and in other areas,
but they also confirm the concentration of new batches of Russian
military equipment at the border, which is prepared for the invasion
of our homeland through the parts of the border which we do not
control yet," he said during a ceremony of transfer of armored
vehicles and other equipment to border guard in Kyiv today.
The
U.S. Embassy in Russia tweeted a satellite image of heavy artillery
stationed in the area, pointing a finger to the Russian army for
setting it up.
“Pro-Russian
separatists have a bigger army now (tanks, armored personnel
vehicles, heavy artillery, missiles) than some countries in NATO and
Europe," the embassy tweeted.
The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring
mission said in its latest report that fighting also continued on the
day cease-fire agreements were signed. There were a total of 88
attacks recorded by the mission in the 24 hours that ended at 6 p.m.
on Feb. 12.
Although
the number was down from the previous recorded cycle, it was still
about four times the typical number of attacks at the beginning of
the year. Also, the report said that “almost all violations have
been by multiple launch rocket systems, heavy artillery and mortars,
with the areas most affected concentrated in Debaltseve (55
kilometers north of Donetsk, government-controlled) and Novoazovsk
(120km south-east of Donetsk, separatist- controlled)."
In
the meantime, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic
Oleksandr Zakharchenko said that his troops would keep on fighting
around Debaltseve because it was not a part of the Minsk peace deal.
Debaltseve is a strategic railway junction on the border of Lunahsk
and Donetsk oblasts.
Moreover,
the separatist leader dismissed the Minsk peace deal as too vague and
not good enough for his so-called republic.
“All
we see so far is vague formulations and various interpretations. If
there is no constructive document, it won't lead to anything good,"
Zakharchenko was quoted by Interfax-Uktaine news agency as saying.
If you understand Russian -Minsk Refusal? Right Sector leader rejects Ukraine peace deal
The head of Ukraine's militarised radical Right Sector group says they will not recognise the truce agreed in Minsk ... a deal made during top-level negotiations between Moscow, Kiev, Berlin and Paris. RT's Murad Gazdiev, in Donetsk, east Ukraine has more.
As for the US ambassador's new 'Russian invasion', here RT discusses the latest пallegations
Russia
shrugs off US envoy’s ‘evidence’ of Russian troops in Ukraine
RT,
14
February, 2015
The
Russian Ministry of Defense has branded new claims by the US
ambassador to Ukraine as “crystal ball gazing.” The ambassador
tweeted pictures of what he said were Russian armed forces in
Debaltsevo, eastern Ukraine.
On
Saturday, the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, posted on
Twitter what he says are satellite photos proving there are Russian
artillery systems stationed near the town of Lomuvatka, about 20
kilometers northeast of Debaltsevo. The images could not be
immediately verified.
Under
the tweet, he said: “We
are confident these are Russia military, not separatist systems.”
The photographs were commissioned by the private Digital Globe
satellite company.
8:33 PM - 14 Feb 2015 Ukraine, Ukraina
“We
have failed to understand how those grainy dark patches in the photos
published by US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt on his Twitter
feed could prove anything,”
Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense
Ministry, told journalists later in the day.
7:51 PM - 14 Feb 2015 Ukraine, Ukraina
“Unlike
the American intelligence services, Russia’s military [has] never
considered crystal ball gazing a good way to check and confirm data.”
Konashenkov
also disregarded an earlier allegation by State Department
spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, saying he has not heard “anything
new.”
7:54 PM - 14 Feb 2015 Ukraine, Ukraina
On
Friday, Psaki declared that in addition to the artillery systems and
multiple rocket launchers, Russia had also deployed air defense
systems to the area near the surrounded railway hub.
“This
is clearly not in the spirit of this week's agreement. All parties
must show complete restraint in the run up to Sunday,”
Psaki told reporters.
In
late July, the Russian Ministry of Defense spoke out against images
posted by Pyatt on his Twitter account, which alleged that Ukraine
had been shelled from Russian territory.
“These
materials were posted to Twitter not by accident, as their
authenticity is impossible to prove – due to the absence of the
attribution to the exact area, and an extremely low resolution. Let
alone using them as ‘photographic evidence,’”
Konashenkov said at the time.
“It’s
no secret to anyone that fakes like this are made by a group of US
counselors staying in the Kiev building of the Security Council, led
by General Randy Kee,”
he noted.
Konashenkov
branded the scheme “an
informational merry-go-round.” The
general outlined the cycle as follows: US counselors in Kiev feed
false information to the Ukrainian media, and the news is then
presented as fact by official Washington representatives.
Also
last year, Pyatt was found guilty of posting fake images of US drills
and tanks taking part in exercises, after internet users immediately
noticed the photographs had been published at a much earlier date.
Zakharchenko's
final warning to Poroshenko
2/14/2015
Aleksandr
Zakharchenko on Minsk-2
Translated
from Russian by J.Hawk
“I
said in Minsk and am saying right now that the DPR territory includes
the entire Donetsk Region. If our demands for a de-facto independence
are not met, we shall claim the entire Donetsk Region. How we will
obtain it does not matter to us. If we can’t do it through the
political process, we have already shown that we can do it through
other means.”
J.Hawk’s
Comment: Note that Zakharchenko is talking about a “de-facto”
independence, which takes a fair amount of pressure off Poroshenko,
because all Ukraine’s president need to do is simply leave
Novorossia alone while continuing to engage in belligerent rhetoric.
Zakharchenko is also re-emphasizing This Is It. Either Minsk-2
sticks, or there isn’t going to be a Minsk-3. These are not empty
words—Novorossia’s army has been toying with the UAF so as to
allow Poroshenko a face-saving way out. It is obvious enough which
side has the advantage and initiative on the battlefield. The battle
for Logvinovo was one that the UAF simply could not afford to lose,
and they threw the best they had (they also threw Semenchenko, but
that’s another matter) at Novorossia’s forces there and…lost.
Once the attempt to relieve the Debaltsevo pocket had failed, it
became abundantly clear who can dictate facts on the ground. Should
Poroshenko fail to act in a responsible fashion yet again, he will
not be given a face-saving way out the next time
Сообщение
от Александра Захарченко.
"Я
в Минске говорил и сейчас говорю, что
территория ДНР — это территория Донецкой
области. Если не будут выполнены наши
требования о фактической независимости,
мы заявим, что вся территория Донецкой
области наша. Каким путем ее забирать,
все равно. Если не получится политическим,
мы показали, что можно и по-другому."
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