Crisis in Ukraine: Daily Briefing
29 July 2016, 7 PM Kyiv time
1. Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO) reported that yesterday towards Luhansk, Russian-terrorist forces fired on Ukrainian positions at Lopaskyne. Towards Donetsk, Russian-terrorist forces shelled Ukrainian positions along the Troitske-Zaytseve-Mayorsk line with mortars. At Avdiyivka, Russian-terrorist forces shelled Ukrainian positions with mortars. Towards Mariupol, Russian-terrorist forces fired on several Ukrainian positions along the Mariupol sector of the front. At Maryinka, Krasnohorivka and Vodyane, Russian-terrorist forces shelled Ukrainian positions with mortars. Ukrainian forces repelled an attack by Russian-terrorist forces at Maryinka. The RNBO reported that in the last 24 hours, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action.
2. Operation UNIFIER: Ukrainian instructors are the road to success
In an article published by Canada’s Department of National Defence, Capt. J.P. Coulome, Joint Task Force – Ukraine Public Affairs Officer stated, “After seven months, the rotation of personnel currently deployed on Operation UNIFIER, Canada’s training mission in Ukraine, is standing ready to hand over the task to a new group from Western Canada. Since first deploying on this operation, this rotation has not only contributed to training over 1700 Ukrainians on 46 different training courses, but has paved the way for the future by training instructors that will enable Ukraine’s Armed Forces to continue the training. Relying on the strong foundation laid by the previous group, this rotation of personnel from 2nd Canadian Division (2 Cdn Div) was able to continue the good work and explore new avenues to further develop Ukraine’s military capabilities.” The full article is available athttp://forces.gc.ca/en/news/
In an article published by Canada’s Department of National Defence, Capt. J.P. Coulome, Joint Task Force – Ukraine Public Affairs Officer stated, “After seven months, the rotation of personnel currently deployed on Operation UNIFIER, Canada’s training mission in Ukraine, is standing ready to hand over the task to a new group from Western Canada. Since first deploying on this operation, this rotation has not only contributed to training over 1700 Ukrainians on 46 different training courses, but has paved the way for the future by training instructors that will enable Ukraine’s Armed Forces to continue the training. Relying on the strong foundation laid by the previous group, this rotation of personnel from 2nd Canadian Division (2 Cdn Div) was able to continue the good work and explore new avenues to further develop Ukraine’s military capabilities.” The full article is available athttp://forces.gc.ca/en/news/
3. US diplomats: Time that Russia matched its words with actions
US Ambassador to Ukraine G. Pyatt and US Permanent Representative to the OSCE D. Baer held a telephone press briefing in Vienna today following yesterday’s meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. Ambassador Baer stated, “The sense in the room I think from the other 56 Permanent Representatives as well as our delegation was that the situation has gotten dramatically worse in the last weeks. We’re seeing casualties at a rate that we haven’t seen for a year now. And the first step has been this talk about a disengagement plan that would be disengagement at several hot spots along the Line of Contact. […] The Russian Federation yesterday again claimed that they wanted disengagement. […] But on the ground we see a very different picture. We see continued resupply of weapons and fighters. We see continued provocations to keep the conflict going. We see continued restrictions of the SMM and its monitors. We see continued shoot-downs of SMM UAV’s after they’ve seen Russian weaponry, heavy weapons in areas where it shouldn’t be. And so the message that was delivered to the Russian Federation yesterday by many, many participating states in the Permanent Council was it’s time to match your words with action and to get that disengagement on the ground. The disengagement is only a first step that has to be consolidated and built into a real ceasefire. There has to be monitoring on the border, and all of those things are a necessary precondition in order to enable the diplomatic and political process to move forward.” Ambassador Pyatt stated “there are obligations which Ukraine undertook as part of the Minsk Agreement. But the simple fact is Ukraine has executed the vast majority of its obligations. And President Poroshenko has reaffirmed those commitments publicly and privately just over the past few days. Ukraine has passed an amnesty law. Ukraine has had the first reading of a constitutional amendment. Ukraine has passed a special status law. But it’s very clear that Russia has not discharged its obligations. The troops and equipment have not been withdrawn. A ceasefire has not been implemented. All hostages have not been released. And the Ukrainian position which the United States supports, is that the first task now, as Ambassador Baer said, is the restoration of the ceasefire. […] In fact this was a topic of conversation just this week between President Obama and Chancellor Merkel, and it’s not a coincidence that that phone call with the White House followed almost immediately on a phone call between Chancellor Merkel and President Poroshenko.” The full transcript of the briefing is available at http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/
US Ambassador to Ukraine G. Pyatt and US Permanent Representative to the OSCE D. Baer held a telephone press briefing in Vienna today following yesterday’s meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. Ambassador Baer stated, “The sense in the room I think from the other 56 Permanent Representatives as well as our delegation was that the situation has gotten dramatically worse in the last weeks. We’re seeing casualties at a rate that we haven’t seen for a year now. And the first step has been this talk about a disengagement plan that would be disengagement at several hot spots along the Line of Contact. […] The Russian Federation yesterday again claimed that they wanted disengagement. […] But on the ground we see a very different picture. We see continued resupply of weapons and fighters. We see continued provocations to keep the conflict going. We see continued restrictions of the SMM and its monitors. We see continued shoot-downs of SMM UAV’s after they’ve seen Russian weaponry, heavy weapons in areas where it shouldn’t be. And so the message that was delivered to the Russian Federation yesterday by many, many participating states in the Permanent Council was it’s time to match your words with action and to get that disengagement on the ground. The disengagement is only a first step that has to be consolidated and built into a real ceasefire. There has to be monitoring on the border, and all of those things are a necessary precondition in order to enable the diplomatic and political process to move forward.” Ambassador Pyatt stated “there are obligations which Ukraine undertook as part of the Minsk Agreement. But the simple fact is Ukraine has executed the vast majority of its obligations. And President Poroshenko has reaffirmed those commitments publicly and privately just over the past few days. Ukraine has passed an amnesty law. Ukraine has had the first reading of a constitutional amendment. Ukraine has passed a special status law. But it’s very clear that Russia has not discharged its obligations. The troops and equipment have not been withdrawn. A ceasefire has not been implemented. All hostages have not been released. And the Ukrainian position which the United States supports, is that the first task now, as Ambassador Baer said, is the restoration of the ceasefire. […] In fact this was a topic of conversation just this week between President Obama and Chancellor Merkel, and it’s not a coincidence that that phone call with the White House followed almost immediately on a phone call between Chancellor Merkel and President Poroshenko.” The full transcript of the briefing is available at http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/
