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Ukraine’s army intensified training drills by 30 percent in 2017

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Ukraine’s armed forces have carried out around 5,000 training drills in 2017, some 30 percent more than last year’s figure, according to the chief of the army’s Operational Training Department, Colonel Ihor Podolyan.  “Every combat unit trained for missions in the (Donbas war zone) undergoes two brigade-level exercises at two different firing ranges” states the colonel. Constant drills are being conducted also by the air force. The General Staff is continuing to work on adapting Ukraine’s army training to NATO standards, Podolyan said. Ukraine will soon approve a military terminology manual for training and deployment of forces, which will help Ukraine’s forces become interoperable with NATO forces, he said. Apart from that, Ukraine’s best combat units are continuing to receive NATO-style training. In particular, eight infantry battalions and one company have finished Joint Multinational Training Group advanced courses conducted by the U.S. Army.

 

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Rada Security Committee backs bill on restoring sovereignty over Donbas but calls for amendments .

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The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense supported the presidential bill on the specifics of state policy to ensure state sovereignty of Ukraine over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (No. 7163), at the same time instructing that the working group draft a number of amendments, according to an UNIAN correspondent. The corresponding decision was announced by Committee Chair Serhiy Pashinsky. Before the vote, MP Andriy Levus proposed removing from the bill’s article 7 the reference to Minsk agreements and replacing them with a note on the resolution of the UN Security Council, which supported the Minsk accords. Pashinsky put the draft law to vote with the instruction to the committee secretariat to create ahead of the second reading a working group to be headed by MP Levus, aimed at finalizing the document and amending Article 7. Most Committee members supported the decision with three abstained, and another one against.

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Donbas militants again use Grads, 1 WIA in last day

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In the Mariupol sector, the enemy was firing a 122mm Grad-P portable rocket launcher, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and a heavy machine gun on the Ukrainian positions near the village of Shyrokyne for one hour in the afternoon. Later, the militants used an 82mm mortar there. Furthermore, starting from 18:00 Kyiv time, the enemy was firing a Grad MLR system on the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Talakivka, having launched 38 rockets. Militants also used 120mm mortars twice firing on the residential sector of the village of Vodiane. In the Donetsk sector, the Ukrainian fortified positions near the town of Avdiyivka and the village of Nevelske came under fire from grenade launchers and heavy machine guns twice. The invaders shelled the Ukrainian positions near Butivka coal mine, and the villages of Zaitseve and Maiorsk. In the Luhansk sector, the Ukrainian positions near the village of Triokhizbenka were attacked four times with the use of a grenade launcher and small arms. The Ukrainian military had to fire back, but one Ukrainian soldier was wounded.

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Ukraine-Australia trade almost 60% up in seven months, to US$112.93 mln

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Trade between Ukraine and Australia in January-July 2017 grew by 56.3%, to US$112.93 million, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s press service. In particular, Ukrainian exports amounted to US$7.82 million, which was 53.8% up, while imports of goods from Australia were estimated at US$105.11 million, which was 56.5% up, the press service said after a meeting between Groysman and President of the Senate Stephen Parry in Kyiv on Monday, October 2. Groysman in turn invited businesses from Australia to boost investment in Ukraine and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation. “We are far away from each other geographically, but we can deepen our relations during this historical period. I’d like to confirm our intention to deepen diplomatic and political ties and intensify our economic cooperation. I am convinced we need to look for mechanisms for cooperation in the economic sphere, as our bilateral trade potential is much higher than the real numbers now”, the Ukrainian prime minister said. In particular, Ukraine is interested in developing cooperation in the oil and gas, metallurgy, chemical, energy, automotive and infrastructure sectors. It is also ready to propose projects for the modernization of production processes in various industries and open to discuss farm produce and food supplies to Australia. UNIAN memo. The Ukrainian government says Australia is interested in investment in wholesale and retail trade, repairs to vehicles, professional activity, R&D and engineering, information technology and telecoms. Ukraine is also of interest in view of its proximity to the EU and its Association Agreement and a free trade area with the EU. The possibility of organizing the supply of energy carriers, in particular coal, to Ukraine is a separate area of cooperation. Australia also run the Direct Aid Program in Ukraine, providing small grants. In 2016-2017, priority is given to projects aimed at improving the situation of internally displaced persons, especially women and children. The Union of Ukrainian Organization in Australia says that up to 38,000 Ukrainians live in that country.

 

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Donbas militants preparing for protracted war – volunteer

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After his latest trip to the Svitlodarska Duha bulge, a Ukrainian volunteer activist Yuriy Mysiahin reported that the terrorists did not intend to bring to an end the war in the east of Ukraine. According to Mysiahin, the enemy does not seem to take into account to recent debate on the imminent deployment in Donbas of UN peacekeepers. “The other side is preparing for a protracted war. All their advanced positions are being strengthened”, the volunteer wrote on Facebook. According to Mysiahin, a lot of timber and sand bags are being brought in to the enemy’s positions and dugouts, while some positions are “fortified” with concrete, and the trenches are being dug deeper. “I don’t recall the enemy strengthening their positions so thoroughly before, which means that they are wary of us and are preparing for our offensive. It will be hot this fall and winter”, the volunteer said.

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British diplomats concerned by Umerov’s sentencing in occupied Crimea

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Once again, this demonstrates the Russian Federation’s systematic persecution of those who voice their opposition to the illegal annexation of Crimea, the British diplomats wrote. The sentencing of Ilmi Umerov offers yet another example of the deteriorating human rights situation in Crimea since 2014, as highlighted most recently in the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published on 25 September. The diplomats say that Ilmi Umerov’s view that the annexation of Crimea is illegal has been widely supported by the international community, including through the UN General Assembly and the EU’s package of sanctions on Russia. From the beginning, Umerov’s case, including his detention in a psychiatric unit in 2016, has fallen well short of international standards.

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U.S. Army releases handbook for defeating Russia in hybrid war.

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The handbook, a slick sixty-eight-page publication packed with photos and data on Russian equipment that might be used to wage asymmetric warfare focused on Russian operations in Ukraine and the Crimea, which involved small special-operations troops—sometimes operating undercover—and small, heavily armed formations of regular Russian troops backing local separatist groups, The National Interest reports. It concludes that Russian strategy is based on achieving regime change through teaming up with local proxy forces, rather than conventional military victory by Russian troops. “Because the new objective is the change of an entire system of government, the RNGW approach can use any lever of influence in their reach to achieve this change,” the U.S. army study explains. “Not all regime changes have to be resolved with a military option, but when a military lever is activated, it is done by, with, and through segments of the local population. The involvement of locals gives validity to military action on the world stage”.

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SBU busts terrorist group in Kharkiv supplying classified data to Moscow

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The SBU counterintelligence operatives revealed that the leader of a Kharkiv-based 18-strong terrorist cell was in fact a rather successful local scientist who had skillfully convinced other locals into clandestine cooperation to avenge for the failure of the so-called “Kharkiv People’s Republic” project, TSN Tyzhden reports. After the cell was exposed by the SBU, pro-Russian media attempted to raise public hype by claiming that the law enforcers detained an ordinary pensioner. However, the man in question, Mehti Logunov, says: “If I were younger, I would join Strelkov [aka Igor Girkin, one of Russia’s masterminds behind the start of hostilities in Donbas against the Ukrainian forces]!” Unable to do so due to a senior age, the man chose to convince vulnerable Ukrainian men to join the ranks of armed Russian proxies in Donbas. Logunov offered a young man who just got out of prison to undergo training at a sabotage training camp in Russia. The cache with weapons for the newly- recruited agent was located not far from his house, as seen from a corresponding map found in the group leader’s house.

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Ukraine sees industrial price hikes in Aug

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The growth of prices of industrial commodities in Ukraine in August 2017 accelerated to 23.6% compared to August 2016 against 23.3% in July 2017 from July 2016, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Industrial prices in August 2017 grew by 0.4% from July 2017, it said. In January-August, prices of industrial commodities increased by 8.4%. The statistical report does not include information from Russian-occupied Crimea, Sevastopol and Donbas. As UNIAN reported, the growth of industrial prices in Ukraine in July 2017 slowed to 23.3% compared to July 2016 against 26.3% in June 2017 compared to June 2016.

 

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What Russian “peacekeepers” want

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The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine in February 2015 approved an appeal to the UN and the European Union regarding the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. “The issue was considered and a decision was made to appeal to the UN and the EU regarding the deployment of peacekeeping and security missions in Ukraine,” NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov told journalists at the time. It was noted that the peacekeepers should be deployed both along the line of contact in Donbas and along the uncontrolled section of the Russian-Ukrainian border. The reason for the decision was another escalation in Donbas. But Moscow’s reaction was unequivocal: Minsk accords do not presuppose any peacekeepers – exclamation mark.

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