Interpreter Staff

Five Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in 2 Days; Videos of Russian Tanks Near Ukrainian Border

April 8, 2018
The Bell
Ukraine At War
Russian tanks near the Ukrainian borders. Screen grab from amateur video April 7, 2018

Ukraine Day 1510: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. Videos have appeared of Russian tank convoys near the Ukrainian border.

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

An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine

 

Five Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in 2 Days; Videos of Russian Tanks Near Ukrainian Border
2018-04-12 05:58:12

Despite the Easter “ceasefire,” Russia-backed militants made 12 attacks using grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. Snipers were active in Svetlodarks on the Lugansk line. Four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded.
VOA journalist Fatima Tlis published a video said to be of “Russian tanks passing into Ukraine April 7.”
But in an article on Medium, Aric Toler of Bellingcat said the tanks were 40 kilometers from the border.

The Russian military presence next to the Ukrainian border continues to place pressure on Ukraine and enables the Russian military — which controls the Ukrainian border in this area — to send convoys into the Donbass at will — a point that Toler concedes only at the end of the article.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported in its briefing on April 2 that when Russia-backed forces attacked OSCE monitors’ drones, they were still able to document “the movement in this district of a convoy of militants’ armor consisting of 10 BMPS, and also preparation measures by Russian occupation forces,” according to the Ukrainian side of the Joint Center for Command and Control.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission itself in its April 3 report for April 2 reported on sightings of numerous BMPs both in Ukrainian-controlled territory and territory controlled by Russia-backed militants, but it did not characterize the origin of the latter nor describe Russian forces’ preparations, and it is not clear if they are related to the armor seen in the videos.

Russia-backed militants in Kremenets and Yeleovka stopped OSCE vehicles and inspected their trailers, Liga.net reported.

Ukrainian soldiers celebrated Orthodox Easter Sunday.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick