War On Two Fronts
"There is an urgent need to strengthen the combat and mobilization readiness of our forces and other military forces up to a level which guarantees an adequate reaction to threats to national security from continuing Russian aggression."
Oleksander Turchynov, secretary, Ukrainian National Defence Council
The agreement from December between Ukraine's Russian-speaking separatists and the Ukrainian military for a cessation of hostilities has undergone one breach after another, making it sufficiently clear that the conflict will continue to the bitter end. Fighting erupted again on the perimeter of the Donetsk international airport, as the secessionists attempted to attack government forces, killing two soldiers. The military has suffered a clear setback as Russian forces advance.
The airport is now a wreck, in any event, its runways no longer intact, explosions having left the wreckage of craters everywhere, the facility no longer capable of being used as an airport since April. It's relevance to both the military and their adversaries remains symbolic. "Unfortunately, there are two (Ukrainian soldiers) killed", commented a senior member of the Ukrainian army general staff, Vladyslav Seleznyov.
The Ukrainian parliament is determined to beef up its front-line forces by resuming conscription. A security official had given notice that sharply increased Russian military activity in the east of the country has given new heart to the separatist rebels. "Russian aggression is continuing. There has been a significant surge in the intensity of firing", grimly stated Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of the national defence council.
In addressing parliament, he advised that 8,500 Russian servicemen were now fully actively engaged in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian military positions had been fired on over a hundred times, a record for the new year. Four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded on Wednesday. Moscow still denies its troops are integrally involved in the civil war, despite the incontrovertible evidence that Kyiv insists it is in possession of.
The shelling of a passenger bus on Tuesday at an army checkpoint, has led to increased military action by Russian forces. The bus that had set out from Donetsk on a regular route had been hit from a shell fired within the rebel-occupied areas; clearly the target had been the Ukrainian military, and the bus just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; somewhat like the unfortunates on board the Malaysian passenger jet shot down by the rebels.
Predictably, as in the horrors of the Malaysian airliner debacle, the separatists have denied responsibility for the deaths of the bus passengers, even while Kyiv lays the blame squarely at their feet. A decree by President Petro Poroshenko to revolve long-serving troops at the front and bring in reserve veterans along with partial conscription, was supported by Ukraine's parliament.
Even while Moscow denies any involvement in Ukraine, other than moral support for its expatriate community, President Putin has ordered Gazprom to cut supplies to and through Ukraine, claiming it was siphoning off Russian gas to steal what they could conceivably get away with, characterized as "transit risks for European consumers in the territory of Ukraine". The fallout for which is far-reaching, with gas exports cut by 60% to Europe.
Within hours of the edict, Europe found itself in an energy crisis. Ukrainian gas companies confirmed Russian supply cut-off. The European Union responded furiously that the sudden cut-off was "completely unacceptable", which must have been music to Vladimir Putin's smug ears. Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller explained that Russia is working on shifting its natural gas flows from Ukraine to a route through Turkey.
According to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak "the decision has been made". As the world's largest natural gas supplier, Gazprom now plans to send 63-billion cubic meters through a link proposed under the Black Sea to Turkey, spurning shipments through Ukraine where 40% of Russian gas exports to Europe and Turkey had passaged Ukraine's Soviet-era gas network.
Europe finds itself in an emergency situation as winter sets in, leaving Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey bereft of gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine. This is Russia in its element, conducting its usual business-as-usual-Moscow-style; a confrontation on two fronts; military intervention in Ukraine, and gas cut-offs to Europe, teaching them not to meddle in the affairs of the Russian Federation.
Labels: Aggression, Conflict, Energy, European Union, Russia, Secession, Ukraine
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, January 15, 2015
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