Car Bomb Kills 1 SBU Officer, Wounds 2 Others; Civilian Injured; Ukrainian MP Says Manafort Didn’t Report All Funds

There was yet another car bomb reported in Ukraine today, this time in Konstantinovsky District of Donetsk Region, involving officers of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), according to Ukrainska Pravda. One officer was killed and two were wounded, and a local resident was also injured.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office (translation by The Interpreter):

On June 27, 2017 about 19:00, an unidentified person set of an explosive device, as a result of which an Opal Vectra car was destroyed, in which soldiers of the SBU as well as a local resident were traveling. The officer was later identified as Col. Yuriy Vozniy, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

This is the third such car bombing of intelligence officials this year; earlier we reported two others. The SBU reported that Col. Vozniy was the 23rd officer of the SBU to give his life in defending his homeland.

The Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) has expressed concern that there Russia-backed forces may stage “provocations” during the harvest ceasefire, both on Ukrainian-controlled as well as occupied territories, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation].

The forces of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” have expressed the same concern in reverse, RIAN reported.

The Ukrainian JCCC points to shelling with 120-mm mortar-launchers by Russia-backed forces on populated areas along the line of contact. Today, there was an attack near Krasnogorovka despite the “harvest ceasefire” declared January 24. A shell exploded on the grounds of Krasnogorovka General Education School No. 1 in the Solchnechny district. There were no injuries.

On the front line, there were 11 attacks by Russia-backed forces and no casualties reported. On the Maritime line, militants fired 120-mm mortars on Lebedinskoye and 82-mm mortars on Gnutovo; Krasnogorovka was also shelled with 120-mm mortars.

On the Donetsk line, there were attacks on Avdeyevka and Kamenka with 82-mm and 120-mm mortar-launchers.

On the Lugansk line, 82-mm mortars and an armed BMP were fired near Krymskoye and grenade-launchers were fired on Stary Aydar and Novotoshkovskoye; small arms were fired on Sharov Kut.

In Other News:

o Manafort Reports $17.1 Million from Party of Regions 

Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, made more than $17 million working as a foreign agent of the pro-Russian Ukrainian Party of Regions, according to his newly-filed financial reports, Politico reported.

The report says that Manafort ended his work for the Party of Regions, headed by deposed president Viktor Yanukovych, before he went to work for Trump.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian parliamentarianSergei Leshchenko says Paul Manafort has not reported all the funds he received from the Party of Regions under deposed president Yanukovych. The years missing in the report to the US Department of Justice are from 2005-2012; these include the period of 2007-2012 where illegal payments of $12 million have been reported on a “black ledger”.

“In his report for 2012-2014 there is another $17 million, that is, in total, it is $30 million for the period of work for the Party of Regions from 2007-2014. And in addition from the period of 2005-2007, the ‘shadow bookkeeping’ is not reflected in official accounts.”

o Russian Defense Ministry Denies Russian Soldier Captured by Ukrainian Forces Was on Active Duty 

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied reports that Ukrainian forces have arrested Russian military officer Viktor Ageyev, originally from Altai Territory in Russia, in Lugansk Region, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

According to RIA Novosti, the Defense Minister claimed Ageyev had never served as a contract soldier in the Russian Armed Forces, calling this a “fiction of Ukrainian propagandists,” and saying that he had resigned in May 2016 and gone into the reserves.

They say that if Agdeyev was a contract soldier, this would be on his military ID, but it was missing, which is why the Ukrainian army didn’t publish both sides of the document.

Ukrainian forces said the captured a diversionary reconnaissance group in a battle during which two militants were killed, including a Russian citizen. They said the head of the group was Russian Capt. Aleksandr Shcherbak.

Yuliya Krienko, a Ukrainian journalist, said in a post on Facebook that Ageyev had come to Ukraine to fight on the side of the separatists and had been issued a machine gun, although was not able to handle it very well. She posted a picture of his passport, issued May 26, 2016, and his military ID, which was issued May 18, 2015, but it is not clear what his status was when captured.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick 

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