1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 2 Wounded; At UN, Ukrainian Delegation Condemns Russian Supply of ‘Terrorists’ in Ukraine

Home damaged from Russia-backed separatists' shelling in July near the Mayorsk checkpoint. Photo via ATO

Ukraine Day 1262: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 2 were wounded.

Yesterday’s coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlinâ€™s Dirty War in Ukraine

2017-08-03 08:55:00

Photo by Unian

There was less fighting today than yesterday, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] evening dispatch.

Even so, according to the ATO morning dispatch for the previous reporting period there were 34 attacks violating the “harvest” ceasefire of June 24. One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 2 were wounded.

Yesterday August 1, Russia-backed militants shelled the outskirts of Vodyanoye, a town near Mariupol with an MRLS system (banned under the Minsk agreement) and blew up ammunition at Staromikhailovka, the Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Coordination and Control said, according to a Unian.net report.

According to their Facebook post, the Ukrainian JCCC said the militants mounted the MRLS on the back of a KamAZ truck to make it more mobile and fired on the town. No civilian casualties have been reported.

They said the militants also blew up the ammunition near Staromikhailovka in order to simulate shelling by the Ukrainian army. They believe the Russia-backed fighters were planning a provocation during the Trilateral Contact Meeting in Minsk to start today, August 2.

Today the Ukrainian delegation to the UN used the occasion of a UN Security Council discussion on the prevention of terrorists from acquiring weapons to raise the issue of Russia’s supply of arms and troops to the separatist forces of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”:

The international regime, aimed at curbing arms supply to terrorists, runs into a problem when states, who are supposed to uphold it, turn out to be in breach of their international obligations and commitments in this regard.

One of the most telling cases of our times is the continuing flooding of the occupied territories in the east of Ukraine with all kinds of weapon systems, all coming from the neighboring state. Over 400 battle tanks, 840 armoured personnel vehicles, 200 multiple launch rocket systems, 730 artillery systems and 400 air defense units have been provided to terrorist organizations operating there.

These deadly supplies have been used also to conduct devastating terrorist attacks, including, for example, the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, with 298 innocent civilians on board.

The rhetorical question is: How did the terrorist organizations in Ukraine get weapons that often surpass armament stocks of many states on the European continent? Or why do not terrorists run out of diesel and munitions?

Ukraine is currently an elected member of the Security Council. The resolution was unanimously adopted but did not contain any reference to Russia, and the Press Centre on the UN site did not mention Ukraine’s statement.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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