Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled
from antiquity to the present day, to catalogue the world's most
spectacular natural wonders and manmade structures.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of the most remarkable creations of classical antiquity; it was based on guidebooks popular among Hellenic sightseers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim and in Mesopotamia.
The number seven was chosen because the Greeks believed it represented
perfection and plenty, and because it was the number of the five planets
known anciently, plus the sun and moon.
Many similar lists have been made.
The historian Herodotus (484 – ca. 425 BC) and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca. 305–240 BC), at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of seven wonders. Their writings have not survived, except as references.
The only ancient world wonder that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Lists from other eras
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, some writers wrote their own
lists with names such as Wonders of the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of
the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind, and Architectural
Wonders of the Middle Ages. However, it is unlikely that these lists
originated in the Middle Ages, because the word "medieval" was not invented until the Enlightenment-era, and the concept of a Middle Age did not become popular until the 16th century. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable refers to them as "later list[s]", suggesting the lists were created after the Middle Ages.
Many of the structures on these lists were built much earlier than the Medieval Ages but were well known.
Following in the tradition of the classical list, modern people and
organisations have made their own lists of wonderful things ancient and
modern. Some of the most notable lists are presented below.
American Society of Civil Engineers
In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers
compiled a list of Seven Wonders of the Modern World, paying tribute to
the "greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century".
Tallest structure in the world 1931–1954, Tallest freestanding
structure in the world 1931–1967, Tallest Building in the world
1931–1970. First building with 100+ stories.
One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken.
USA Today's New Seven Wonders
In November 2006 the American national newspaper USA Today and the American television show Good Morning America revealed a new list of New Seven Wonders as chosen by six judges. An eighth wonder was chosen on November 24, 2006 from viewer feedback.
Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a
list of seven natural wonders of the world, and there has been debate
over how large the list should be. One of the many existing lists was
compiled by CNN:
In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New 7 Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006. Egyptians were not happy that the only surviving original wonder, the Great Pyramid of Giza, would have to compete with the likes of the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and other landmarks, calling the project absurd. In response, Giza was named an honorary Candidate. The results were announced on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon, Portugal:
New 7 Wonders of Nature
(2007–11), a contemporary effort to create a list of seven natural
wonders chosen through a global poll, was organized by the same group as
the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign.
The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World was a list drawn up by
CEDAM International, an American-based non-profit group for divers,
dedicated to ocean preservation and research.
In 1989 CEDAM brought together a panel of marine scientists,
including Dr. Eugenie Clark, to pick underwater areas which they
considered to be worthy of protection. The results were announced at The
National Aquarium in Washington DC by actor Lloyd Bridges, star of TV's Sea Hunt:
Seven Wonders of the World is a 1956 film in which Lowell Thomas
searches the world for natural and man made wonders and invites the
audience to try to update the ancient Greek Wonders of the World list.
Seven Wonders of the Solar System
In a 1999 article, Astronomy magazine listed the "Seven Wonders of the Solar System". This article was later made into a video.
Numerous other authors and organisations have composed lists of the wonders of the world. For example:
British biographer, science writer, and novelist Ronald W. Clark published a book of man-made and natural wonders titled Wonders of the World, which lists 52 wonders, one for each week of the year.
Travel writer Howard Hillman published two books on the subject, one with 10 man-made wonders, and one with 10 natural wonders.
Ukrainian culture and customs of Ukraine and ethnic Ukrainians. Ukraine has a shared culture and history with neighboring nations, dating back to the 9th century and the Land of Rus. Mutual customs are shared among the cultures of Ukraine, Belarus, Ukrainian Cossacks and Russians. Ukrainian customs are heavily influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church and traditions from Slavic mythology. The Soviet era unified the cultures of many unrelated nations with a common language.
Social gatherings like Vechornytsi have a long history in Ukrainian culture, and so do traditional holidays like Ivan Kupala Day, Maslenitsa, Koledovanie, and Malanka, where people gather in large groups. "Razom nas bahato, nas ne podolaty"
is a popular cultural and political statement of both traditional and
modern Ukrainians. It translates as "Together we are many! We cannot be
defeated!"
Weddings
Traditional Ukrainian wedding celebrations have many rituals that
involve music and dancing, drinking and eating, and crowds of people.
The wedding consists of three separate parts that can last for days or
even weeks. First there's a betrothal, then a ceremony, followed by a big celebration. The betrothal involves the groom going to the bride's parents to bargain for ransom
he will pay for the bride and to seek the blessing of her parents.
There are many stories in Ukrainian folklore of a bride being stolen without the groom paying ransom. Often, the stolen bride is a willing participant and the couple elopes
without her parents permission. Alternatively, the bride can refuse an
offer of marriage, in which case, it is customary for the parents to
meet the groom at the door with a pumpkin to convey the message. After they reach an agreement, the official wedding
takes place in a church, often in a group ceremony with other couples. A
celebration follows at home with the entire community participating.
Food is an important part to the Ukrainian culture. Special foods are used at Easter, as well as Christmas. During Christmas, for example, people prepare kutia, which is a mixture of cooked wheat groats, poppy seeds, honey, and special sweet breads.
An average Ukrainian diet consists of fish, cheese, and a variety of sausages. Head cheese is also quite popular in Ukraine, as well as Kolbasa (Ukrainian: Ковбаса́, Kovbasa), a type of sausage. Typically bread
is a core part of every meal, and must be included for the meal to be
"complete." During Christmas, for example, it is the tradition to have a
twelve-course meal. Included at Easter are the famous pysanky,
which are colored and patterned eggs. Making these eggs is a long
process, and they are used for display at the center of the table rather
than consumed.
Ukrainians often toast to good health, linger over their meal,
and engage in lively conversation with family and friends. Often they
will drink tea (chai), wine, or coffee afterwards with a simple dessert, such as a fruit pastry. Popular foods include salo, borscht, chicken kiev, pierogi,and pilaf.
Ukrainian architecture reflects distinct features of that particular
location and time period. Design and architecture are influenced by the
existing political and economic climate.
Vernacular architecture
Different regions in Ukraine have their own distinctive style of vernacular architecture,
based on local traditions and the knowledge handed down through
generations. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Way of Life of Central Naddnipryanshchyna is located in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi.
The open-air museum contains 13 theme museums, 122 examples of national
architecture, and over 30,000 historical cultural objects. The Museum
of Decorative Finishes is one of the featured museums that preserves the
handiwork of decorative architectural applications in Ukrainian architecture. Decorative finishes use ancient traditional design patterns.
On special occasions, every aspect of ordinary life is transformed
into ornamental art form of artistic expression. Ornamentation and
design motifs are steeped in symbolism, religious ritual and meaning. From the illuminated manuscripts of the Peresopnytsia Gospel to the famous pysanky and vytynanky, intricate details have ancient meaning. Much of the oral history was lost during the past 300 years of Russification of Ukraine when Ukrainian culture and language were forbidden. Organizations like the Ivan Honchar Museum, Pysanka Museum and the Ukrainian Museum
are dedicated to historic preservation. Different regions of Ukraine
have their own traditional ornamentation with their own variation of
style and meaning. Examples can be seen in Petrykivsky Painting, ornamental architecture, Ukrainian embroidery, and textile motifs from various Ukrainian historical regions.
Jewelry
Ukrainians in national dress
Traditional costume
The iconic embroidered shirt or blouse, the vyshyvanka,
is the most recognizable part of Ukrainian national costume, and even
has its own public celebration in May. For men, traditional dress also
includes kozhukh, kontusz, żupan and sharovary. For women, traditional dress includes kozhushanka, ochipok for married women, and Ukrainian wreath
for unmarried girls. Garments are made using elaborate structural
design, complicated weaving techniques, extensive embroidery, and cutwork needlework.
Weaving and embroidery
Artisan textile arts play an important role in Ukrainian culture, especially in Ukrainian wedding traditions. Ukrainian embroidery, weaving, and lace-making are used in traditional folk dress and in traditional celebrations. Ukrainian embroidery varies depending on the region of origin, and the designs have a long history of motifs, compositions, choice of colors, and types of stitches. Use of color is very important and has roots in Ukrainian folklore. Embroidery motifs found in different parts of Ukraine are preserved in the Rushnyk Museum in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi.
National dress is woven and highly decorated. Weaving with handmade looms is still practiced in the village of Krupove, situated in Rivne Oblast. The village is the birthplace of two famous personalities in the scene of national crafts fabrication. Nina Myhailivna and Uliana Petrivna
with international recognition. In order to preserve this traditional
knowledge, the village is planning to open a local weaving center,
museum, and weaving school.
Performance art
Dance
The Hopak is often popularly referred to as the "National Dance of Ukraine".
Traditional dances are popular within Ukraine, many of which derive from rural Cossack villages. One Ukrainian style of dancing is called the kalyna. Both men and women participate in this type of dancing.
The women wear colourful costumes, sometimes featuring a
solid-coloured (usually blue, green, red, or black) tunic and matching
apron, and under that an open skirt, and below that a white skirt with
an embroidered hem that should reach an inch or so below the knee. If
they wear a tunic, then under that they wear a long-sleeved richly embroidered white shirt. Traditionally, women wear a type of red leather boots to dance in. They also wear a flower head piece (vinok), that is a headband covered with flowers and has long flowing ribbons down the back that flow when they dance, and plain red coral necklaces.
The men wear baggy trousers
(usually blue, white, black or red) and a shirt (usually white, but
sometimes black) embroidered at the neck and down the stomach. Over the
shirt they sometimes will wear a richly embroidered vest. Around their waist they wear a thick sash with fringed ends. Like the women, they wear boots, but these can be black or white in addition to red.
Kalyna dancing involves partner dancing. One dance, called the pryvitannia, is a greeting dance. It is slow and respectful, the women bow to the audience and present bread with salt on a cloth and flowers. Another, called the hopak is much more lively, and involves many fast-paced movements. Hence hopak as a dance is derived from hopak martial art of Cossacks.
Ukrainian literature had a difficult development because, due to constant foreign domination over Ukrainian territories,
there was often a significant difference between the spoken and written
language. At times the use of the Ukrainian language was even partly
prohibited to be printed. However, foreign rule by Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Turkey,
left behind new words thereby enriching Ukrainian. Despite tsarist and
soviet repression, Ukrainian authors were able to produce a rich
literary heritage.
Ukraine greatly benefitted from the Soviet emphasis on physical education, which left Ukraine with hundreds of stadiums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and many other athletic facilities.
Ukraine made its debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics. So far, Ukraine has been much more successful in the Summer Olympics (96 medals in four appearances) than in the Winter Olympics
(Five medals in four appearances). Ukraine is currently ranked 35th by
the number of gold medals won in the All-time Olympic Games medal count,
with every country above it, except for Russia, having more appearances.
2,423 killed, 6,820 wounded, 378 missing, 2,768 captured 15,000 defected to Russia
Over 8,000 killed overall (including 304 foreign civilians)
In February 2014, Russia made several military incursions into Ukrainian territory. After Euromaidan protests and the fall of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, Russian soldiers without insignias took control of strategic positions and infrastructure within the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Russia then annexed Crimea after a referendum in which Crimeans allegedly voted to join the Russian Federation, according to official results. In April, demonstrations by pro-Russian groups in the Donbass area of Ukraine escalated into an armed conflict between the Ukrainian government and the Russia-backed separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. In August, Russian military vehicles crossed the border in several locations of Donetsk Oblast. The incursion by the Russian military was seen as responsible for the defeat of Ukrainian forces in early September.
In November 2014, the Ukrainian military reported intensive
movement of troops and equipment from Russia into the
separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine. The Associated Press reported 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move in rebel-controlled areas. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission observed convoys of heavy weapons and tanks in DPR-controlled territory without insignia. OSCE monitors further stated they observed vehicles transporting ammunition and soldiers' dead bodies crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border under the guise of humanitarian aid convoys.
As of early August 2015, OSCE observed over 21 such vehicles marked
with the Russian military code for soldiers killed in action. According to The Moscow Times, Russia has tried to intimidate and silence human rights workers discussing Russian soldiers' deaths in the conflict.[76] OSCE repeatedly reported that its observers were denied access to the areas controlled by "combined Russian-separatist forces".
The majority of members of the international community and organizations such as Amnesty International
have condemned Russia for its actions in post-revolutionary Ukraine,
accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian
sovereignty. Many countries implemented economic sanctions against Russia, Russian individuals or companies – to which Russia responded in kind.
In October 2015, The Washington Post reported that Russia has redeployed some of its elite units from Ukraine to Syria to support Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad. In December 2015, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
admitted that Russian military intelligence officers were operating in
Ukraine, insisting though that they were not the same as regular troops.
Background
Despite being an independent country since 1991, Ukraine has been perceived by Russia as being part of its sphere of interest. Iulian Chifu and his co-authors claim that in regard to Ukraine, Russia pursues a modernized version of the Brezhnev Doctrine on "limited sovereignty", which dictates that the sovereignty of Ukraine cannot be larger than that of the Warsaw Pact prior to the demise of the Soviet sphere of influence. This claim is based on statements of Russian leaders that possible integration of Ukraine into NATO would jeopardize Russia's national security.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, both nations retained
very close ties. At the same time, there were several sticking points,
most importantly Ukraine's significant nuclear arsenal, which Ukraine agreed to abandon in the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
on the condition that Russia (and the other signatories) would issue an
assurance against threats or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of Ukraine. In 1999, Russia was one
of signatories of Charter for European Security,
where it "reaffirmed the inherent right of each and every participating
State to be free to choose or change its security arrangements,
including treaties of alliance, as they evolve"; both would prove worthless in 2014.
A second point was the division of the Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine agreed to lease the Sevastopol
port so that the Russian Black Sea fleet could continue to occupy it
together with Ukraine. Starting in 1993, through the 1990s and 2000s,
Ukraine and Russia engaged in several gas disputes. In 2001, Ukraine, along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, formed a group called GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, which was seen by Russia as a direct challenge to the CIS, the Russian-dominated trade group established after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia was further irritated by the Orange Revolution of 2004, which saw the Ukrainian populist Viktor Yushchenko elected president instead of the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovich. Moreover, Ukraine continued to increase its cooperation with NATO,
deploying the third-largest contingent of troops to Iraq in 2004, as
well as dedicating peacekeepers to NATO missions such as the ISAF force in Afghanistan and KFOR in Kosovo.
A pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich,
was elected in 2010 and Russia felt that many ties with Ukraine could
be repaired. Prior to this, Ukraine had not renewed the lease of Black
Sea Naval base at Sevastopol, meaning that Russian troops would have to
leave Crimea by 2017. However, Yanukovich signed a new lease and
expanded allowable troop presence as well as allowing troops to train in
the Kerch peninsula.
Many in Ukraine viewed the extension as unconstitutional because
Ukraine's constitution states that no permanent foreign troops shall be
stationed in Ukraine after the Sevastopol treaty expired. Yulia
Tymoshenko, the main opposition figure of Yanukovich, was jailed on what
many considered trumped up charges, leading to further dissatisfaction
with the government. In November 2013, Viktor Yanukovich declined to
sign an association agreement with the European Union, a treaty that had
been in development for several years and one that Yanukovich had
earlier approved of. Yanukovich instead favored closer ties with Russia.
In September 2013, Russia warned Ukraine that if it went ahead with a planned agreement on free trade with the EU, it would face financial catastrophe and possibly the collapse of the state. Sergey Glazyev,
adviser to President Vladimir Putin, said that, "Ukrainian authorities
make a huge mistake if they think that the Russian reaction will become
neutral in a few years from now. This will not happen." Russia had
already imposed import restrictions on certain Ukrainian products and
Glazyev did not rule out further sanctions if the agreement was signed.
Glazyev allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up
in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine. He suggested that,
contrary to international law, if Ukraine signed the agreement, Russia
would consider the bilateral treaty that delineates the countries'
borders to be void. Russia would no longer guarantee Ukraine's status as
a state and could possibly intervene if pro-Russian regions of the
country appealed directly to Russia.
Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan
Following months of protests as part of the Euromaidan movement, on 22 February 2014, protesters ousted the government of Viktor Yanukovych, who had been democratically elected in 2010. The protesters took control of government buildings in the capital city of Kiev,
along with the city itself. As the police abandoned their posts across
the capital Kiev and the opposition established control over key
intersections and the parliament, President Yanukovych fled Kiev for Kharkiv in the east of Ukraine, where he traditionally has had more support. After this incident, the Ukrainian parliament voted to restore the 2004 Constitution of Ukraine and remove Yanukovych from power.
A vote on the resolution that stated that Yanukovych "is removing
himself [from power] because he is not fulfilling his obligations" emerged 328–0 in support. The vote was 10 short of three-quarters of the Parliament members, the requirement of the Constitution of Ukraine for impeachment. Yanukovych stated that the vote was unconstitutional because of this issue, and refused to resign. Politicians from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, including Crimea, declared continuing loyalty to Yanukovych.
One of the first issues the parliament approached was that of the
language, annulling a bill that provided for Russian to be used as a
second official government language in regions with large
Russian-speaking populations. The parliament adopted a bill to repeal the 2012 law on minority languages,
which protected the status of languages other than Ukrainian. The
proposal alienated many in the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine and a few days later, on 1 March, acting President Oleksandr Turchynovvetoed the bill, effectively stopping its enactment.
In the meantime, on the morning of 27 February, Berkut
special police units from Crimea and other regions of Ukraine, which
had been dissolved on 25 February, seized checkpoints on the Isthmus of Perekop and Chonhar peninsula. According to Ukrainian MP Hennadiy Moskal, former chief of the Crimean police, these Berkut had armoured personnel carriers, grenade launchers, assault rifles, machine guns, and other weapons. Since then, they have controlled all land traffic between Crimea and continental Ukraine.
Russian political actions
In August 2016 the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published telephone intercepts from 2014 of Sergey Glazyev (Russian presidential adviser), Konstantin Zatulin,
and other people where they discussed covert funding of pro-Russian
activists in Eastern Ukraine, occupation of administration buildings and
other actions that in due course led to the armed conflict.
Glazyev refused to deny authenticity of the intercepts, and another
subject, Zatulin, confirmed they were real but taken out of context.
As early as February 2014 Glazyev was giving direct instructions to
various pro-Russian parties in Ukraine to instigate unrest in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Odessa.
Konstantin Zatulin:… That's the
main story. I want to say about other regions – we have financed
Kharkiv, financed Odesa. Sergey Glazyev: Look, the situation in the
process. Kharkiv Regional State Administration has been already stormed,
in Donetsk the Regional State Administration has been stormed. It is
necessary to storm Regional State Administration and gather regional
deputies there! Sergey Glazyev: It is very important that people appeal
to Putin. Mass appeals directly to him with a request to protect, an
appeal to Russia, etc. This appeal has been already in your meeting.
Denis Yatsyuk: So we after storming building of Regional State
Administration we gather a session of the Regional State Administration,
right? We invite MPs and force them to vote?
— Sergey
Glazyev, "English translation of audio evidence of Putin`s Adviser
Glazyev and other Russian politicians involvement in war in Ukraine",
UAPosition.com
On 4 March 2014, Russian permanent representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin
presented a photocopy of a letter signed by Victor Yanukovich on 1
March 2014 asking that Russian president Vladimir Putin use Russian
armed forces to "restore the rule of law, peace, order, stability and
protection of the population of Ukraine". Both houses of the Russian parliament voted on 1 March to give President Putin the right to use Russian troops in Crimea. On 24 June Vladimir Putin asked Russian parliament to cancel resolution on use of Russian forces in Ukraine. The next day the Federation Council voted to repeal its previous decision, making it illegal to use the Russian organized military forces in Ukraine.
Days after Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich fled the capital of Kiev in late February 2014, armed men opposed to the Euromaidan movement began to take control of the Crimean Peninsula.
Checkpoints were established by unmarked Russian soldiers with green military-grade uniforms and equipment in the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, and the independently administered port-city of Sevastopol, home to a Russian naval base under the Kharkiv Pact of 2010. The local population and the media referred to these men as "little green men". After the occupation of the Crimean parliament by these unmarked troops, believed to be Russian special forces, the Crimean leadership announced it would hold a referendum on secession from Ukraine. This heavily disputed referendum was followed by the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in mid-March. Ukraine and most of the international community refused to recognize the referendum or the annexation. On 15 April, the Ukrainian parliament declared Crimea a territory temporarily occupied by Russia. Since annexing Crimea, the Russian government increased its military presence in the region, with Russian president Vladimir Putin saying a Russian military task force would be established there. In December 2014 Ukrainian Border Guard Service announced Russian troops began withdrawing from the areas of Kherson Oblast. Russian troops occupied parts of the Arabat Spit and the islands around the Syvash which are geographically parts of Crimea but are administratively part of Kherson Oblast. One of such villages occupied by Russian troops was Strilkove, Henichesk Raion,
located on the Arabat Spit, which housed an important gas distribution
centre. Russian forces stated they took over the gas distribution center
to prevent terrorist attacks. Russian forces withdrew from southern
Kherson and continued to occupy the gas distribution center outside
Strilkove. The withdrawal from Kherson ended nearly 10 months of Russian
occupation of the region. Ukraine's border guards stated the areas that
were under Russian occupation will have to be checked for mines prior
to them overtaking these positions.
In November, NATO stated that it believed Russia was deploying nuclear-capable weapons to Crimea.
Andrey Illarionov, former advisor of Vladimir Putin, said in a speech on 31 May 2014 that some technologies of Russo-Georgian War,
were updated and again being exploited in Ukraine. According to him,
since Russian military operation in Crimea began on 20 February 2014,
Russian propaganda could not argue that the Russian aggression was the
result of Euromaidan. The war in Ukraine did not happen "all of sudden",
but was pre-planned and the preparations began as early as 2003.
Illarionov later stated that one of the Russian plans envisaged war
with Ukraine in 2015 after a presidential election, however Maidan
accelerated the confrontation.
Renewed conflict (2016)
On
August 8, 2016 Ukraine reported that Russia had increased its military
presence along the Crimea demarcation line. Border crossings were then
closed. On August 10, Russia claimed two servicemen were killed and 10 injured in clashes with Ukrainian commandos in Armyansk (Crimea) on August 7,
and that Ukrainian operatives had been captured. Russian media reported
that one of the killed soldiers was a commander of the Russian GRU, and
later was buried in Simferopol. Ukraine denied that the incident took place,
and parallel to the incident on August 9 a Ukrainian officials claimed
that a number of Russian soldiers had deserted but had not entered into
Ukraine, and that skirmishes broke out between Russian intelligence officers and border guards. Russian President Putin accused Ukraine of turning to the "practice of terrorism". Ukrainian President Poroshenko called the Russian version of events "equally cynical and insane". The U.S. denied Russia's claims, with its ambassador to Ukraine (Geoffrey R. Pyatt) stating "The U.S. Government has seen nothing so far that corroborates Russian allegations of a "Crimea incursion".
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko warned that Russia was
preparing for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, something that Europe is
too weak to prevent it from doing.
Donbass
The war in Donbass is an armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine. From the beginning of March 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, together commonly called the "Donbass", in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the Euromaidan movement. These demonstrations, which followed the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and which were part of a wider group of concurrent pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern Ukraine, escalated into an armed conflict between the Russia-backed separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR respectively), and the Ukrainian government. The SBU claimed key commanders of the rebel movement during the beginning of the conflict, including Igor Strelkov and Igor Bezler were Russian agents. The prime minister of Donetsk People's Republic from May to August 2014 was a Russian citizen Alexander Borodai. From August 2014 all top positions in Donetsk and Lugansk have been held by Ukrainian citizens. Russian citizens are reported to make up from 15% to 80% of the combatants, with many claimed to be former military personnel. Recruitment for the Donbass insurgents was performed openly in Russian cities using private or voyenkomat facilities, as was confirmed by a number of Russian media.
In an interview with French television channel TF1 and Radio Europe1, Russian president Vladimir Putin said: "There are no armed forces, no 'Russian instructors' in Ukraine—and there never were any."
March–July 2014
In
late March Russia continued the buildup of military forces near Ukraine
reaching 30-40,000 troops total. Concerns were expressed that Russia
may again be readying an incursion into Ukraine following its annexation
of Crimea.
American and Ukrainian officials said they had evidence of Russian interference in Ukraine, including intercepted communications between Russian officials and Donbass insurgents.
Ukrainian media have described the well-organised and well-armed
pro-Russian militants as similar to those which occupied regions of
Crimea during the Crimean crisis. The former deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Admiral Ihor Kabanenko, said that the militants are Russian military reconnaissance and sabotage units. Arsen Avakov stated that the militants in Krasnyi Lyman used Russian-made AK-100 series
assault rifles fitted with grenade launchers, and that such weapons are
only issued in the Russian Federation. "The Government of Ukraine is
considering the facts of today as a manifestation of external aggression
by Russia," said Avakov. Militants in Sloviansk arrived in military lorries without license plates. A reporter from Russia's Novaya Gazeta, having visited separatist artillery positions in Avdeyevka,
wrote that in his opinion "it's impossible that the cannons are handled
by volunteers" as they require a trained and experienced team,
including observers and adjustment experts.
David Patrikarakos, a correspondent for the New Statesman
said the following: "While at the other protests/occupations there were
armed men and lots of ordinary people, here it almost universally armed
and masked men in full military dress. Automatic weapons are
everywhere. Clearly a professional military is here. There's the usual
smattering of local militia with bats and sticks but also a military
presence. Of that there is no doubt." Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former American National Security Advisor, said that the events in the Donbass were similar to events in Crimea, which led to its annexation by Russia, and noted that Russia acted similarly.
In April 2014, a US State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki,
said, "there has been broad unity in the international community about
the connection between Russia and some of the armed militants in eastern
Ukraine".
The Ukrainian government released photos of soldiers in eastern
Ukraine, which the US State Department said showed that some of the
fighters were Russian special forces. US Secretary of State John Kerry
said the militants "were equipped with specialized Russian weapons and
the same uniforms as those worn by the Russian forces that invaded
Crimea." The US ambassador to the United Nations said the attacks in Sloviansk were "professional," "coordinated," and that there was 'nothing grass-roots seeming about it'. The British foreign secretary, William Hague,
stated, "I don't think denials of Russian involvement have a shred of
credibility, [...] The forces involved are well armed, well trained,
well equipped, well co-ordinated, behaving in exactly the same way as
what turned out to be Russian forces behaved in Crimea." The commander of NATO operations in Europe, Philip M. Breedlove,
assessed that soldiers appeared to be highly trained and not a
spontaneously formed local militia, and that "what is happening in
eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well planned and
organized and we assess that it is being carried out at the direction of
Russia."
Pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk, 9 March 2014
The New York Times
journalists interviewed Sloviansk militants and found no clear link of
Russian support: "There was no clear Russian link in the 12th Company's
arsenal, but it was not possible to confirm the rebels' descriptions of
the sources of their money and equipment." Commenting on the presence of the Vostok Battalion within insurgent ranks, Denis Pushilin,
self-declared Chairman of the People's Soviet of the Donetsk People's
Republic, said on 30 May, "It's simply that there were no volunteers
[from Russia] before, and now they have begun to arrive – and not only
from Russia."
A significant number of Russian citizens, many veterans or
ultranationalists, are currently involved in the ongoing armed conflict,
a fact acknowledged by separatist leaders. Carol Saivets, Russian
specialist for the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
described the role of Russian soldiers as 'almost certainly' proceeding
with the blessing and backing of the Russian state, "even if the
Russians are indeed volunteers rather than serving military men".
Weapons supply
A Russian opposition politician, Ilya Ponomarev,
said "I am absolutely confident that in the eastern regions of Ukraine
there are Russian troops in very small numbers. And it's not regular
soldiers, but likely representatives of special forces and military
intelligence." Later in July, after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,
he said that "Putin now understands that he has passed weapons to the
wrong people". He also said that even if Moscow stopped the supply of
weapons to the Donbass, there would still be enough supporters of the
war in the Russian military to continue such shipments unofficially.
Separatist leaders such as Aleksey Mozgovoy visited Moscow and were evasive about who was supplying their weapons.
At a meeting held on 7 July, in the city of Donetsk, Russian politician Sergey Kurginyan held a press conference with representatives of the Donbass People's Militia, including Pavel Gubarev,
and said that Russia did provide significant military support for the
separatists. During a discussion among the participants, Gubarev
complained that the arms that had been sent were old, and not fully
functional. In response, Kurginyan listed specific items, including
12,000 automatic rifles, grenade launchers, 2S9 Nona self-propelled mortars, two BMPs,
and three tanks, that he knew had been supplied to the separatists by
Russia. He also said he saw new, fully functional weapons unloaded at
locations in Donbass
which he would not "disclose as we are filmed by cameras". Kurginyan
admitted that Russia had initially sent "4th category weapons", but
since 3 June had supplied equipment that was fully functional. He also
said one of his goals whilst in Donetsk was to ensure that military
support from Russia was increased.
An An-26 military cargo plane was shot down over the Ukrainian village of Davydo Myilske
near the Russian border on 14 July. It had been flying at an altitude
of 6,500 metres. The head of Ukraine's Security Service Valentyn
Nalyvaichenko, stated on 15 July that the SBU had "indisputable"
evidence of Russian involvement in the attack.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over the conflict zone on 17 July near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists.
Evidence from open sources indicated that Buk missile launcher, that
widely believed to have been used to shoot down the passenger flight,
came from Russia, and was transported on 17 July from Donetsk to Snizhne. According to Bellingcat, the launcher was operated by Russian military of 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade.
In August, Russia sent dozens of white lorries, green army trucks
painted white, into eastern Ukraine, without inspection by Ukraine.
The trucks were "almost empty" the BBC's Steve Rosenberg reported, and
the action was characterized as a diversion, a distraction, so that at
other points equipment and personnel came into Ukraine.
On 17 August, Ukraine accused Russia of sending more military
equipment, including Grad rocket launchers, across the border and on to
Nizhny Nagolchyk. Sergei Lavrov
continued to deny that Russia was sending any equipment across the
border. He asserted that an OSCE observer mission placed at border
crossing points in the region had not identified any unlawful crossings
of the border but the OSCE mission that Lavrov mentioned had no mandate
to check the long, unguarded sections of the border where crossings of
men and equipment occurred frequently.
Bellingcat has reported on the presence of Russian T-72B3 and T-90A tanks in the Donbass
since 2014; the significance of this is that these tanks were not
exported to or fielded by Ukraine. T-72B3 and T-90A tanks have
reportedly been used near Ilovaisk, Luhansk airport and Debaltseve.
Cross-border artillery shelling
Russia shelled Ukrainian units from across the border since mid-July. On 11 July 2014 Ukrainian camp in Zelenopillya village near Ukrainian-Russian border was shelled by modern Russian MLRS system 9K51M "Tornado-G", suffering heavy casualties.
On 24 July the American government
stated that it had evidence that the Russian military was firing on
Ukrainian territory from across the border. A spokesman for the US Department of Defense stated that there was "no question" as to Russia's involvement in the attacks on Ukrainian Armed Forces. On 28 July it published satellite photos showing heavy artillery shelling Ukrainian positions from Russian territory. On 27 July, U.S. officials confirmed Russia had shelled Ukrainian territory. At the time, Russian government spokesman denied these allegations.
The shelling escalated at least one week prior to the invasion. According to NATO
reports, Russian military shelled Ukrainian positions across the border
from mid-August, and by 22 August, Russian artillery and personnel had
crossed the border into Ukraine itself.
August military invasion
In early August, according to Igor Strelkov, Russian servicemen, supposedly on "vacation" from the army, began to arrive in Donbass.
On 13 August, members of the Russian Human Rights Commission
stated that over 100 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting in
Ukraine and inquired why they were there.
A convoy of military vehicles, including armoured personnel
carriers, with official Russian military plates crossed into Ukraine
near the militant-controlled Izvaryne border crossing on 14 August.
The Ukrainian government later announced that they had destroyed most
of the armoured column with artillery. Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this incident was a "clear demonstration of continued Russian involvement in the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine".
The same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to Russian
ministers and Crimean parliamentarians on a visit to Crimea, undertook
to do everything he could to end the conflict in Ukraine, saying Russia
needed to build calmly and with dignity, not by confrontation and war
which isolated it from the rest of the world. The comments came as
international sanctions against Russia were being stepped up.
On 22 August 2014, according to NATO officials, Russia moved self-propelled artillery onto the territory of Ukraine.
On 24 August 2014, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko referred to the conflict as Ukraine's "Patriotic War of 2014" and a war against "external aggression". The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine labeled the conflict an invasion on 27 August 2014.
On 26 August 2014, a mixed column composed of at least 3 T-72B1s and a lone T-72BM was identified on a video from Sverdlovsk, Ukraine by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The sighting undermined Russia's attempts to maintain plausible deniability
over the issue of supplying tanks and other arms to the separatists.
Russia continuously claimed that any tanks operated by the separatists
must have been captured from Ukraine's own army. The T-72BM is in
service with the Russian Army in large numbers. This modernized T-72 is
not known to have been exported to nor operated by any other country. Reuters found other tanks of this type near Horbatenko in October. In November, the United Kingdom's
embassy in Ukraine also published an infographic demonstrating specific
features of the T-72 tanks used by separatists not present in tanks
held by Ukrainian army, addressing it to "help Russia recognize its own
tanks". The equipment included for example Thales Optronics thermal vision instruments exported to Russia between 2007 and 2012 only.
On 27 August, two columns of Russian tanks entered Ukrainian territory in support of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk and engaged Ukrainian border forces, but US officials were reluctant to declare that Russia had begun invading Ukraine.
NATO officials stated that over 1,000 Russian troops were operating
inside Ukraine, but termed the incident an incursion rather than an
invasion.
The Russian government denied these claims. NATO published satellite
photos which it said showed the presence of Russian troops within
Ukrainian territory.
The pro-Russian separatists admitted that Russian troops were fighting
alongside them, stating that this was "no secret", but that the Russian
troops were just soldiers who preferred to take their vacations fighting
in Ukraine rather than "on the beach". The Prime Minister of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic
stated that 3,000 to 4,000 Russian troops had fought in separatist
ranks and that most of them had not returned to Russia, having continued
to fight in Ukraine.
On 28 August, members of the commission called the presence of Russian troops on Ukrainian soil "an outright invasion". The same day, Ukraine ordered national mandatory conscription.
In late August, NATO released satellite images which it
considered to be evidence of Russian operations inside Ukraine with
sophisticated weaponry, and after the setbacks
of Ukrainian forces by early September, it was evident Russia had sent
soldiers and armour across the border and locals acknowledged the role
of Putin and Russian soldiers in effecting a reversal of fortunes.
Luhansk region
The official response of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of Russia, which confirmed the death of Pskov paratroopers. The circumstances of the death are designated as "state secret".
The 76th Guards Air Assault Division based in Pskov allegedly entered Ukrainian territory in August and engaged in a skirmish near Luhansk,
suffering 80 dead. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that they had
seized two of the unit's armoured vehicles near Luhansk city, and
reported about another three tanks and two armoured vehicles of
pro-Russian forces destroyed in other regions. The Russian government denied the skirmish took place.
Around 29–30 August, Russian tanks destroyed "virtually every house" in Novosvitlivka, a suburb village of Luhansk, according to Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko.
On 18 August, the 76th Guards Air Assault Division was awarded with Order of Suvorov, one of Russia's highest awards, by Russian minister of defence Sergey Shoigu for the "successful completion of military missions" and "courage and heroism".
Russian media highlighted that the medal is awarded exclusively for
combat operations and reported that a large number of soldiers from this
division had died in Ukraine just days before, but their burials were
conducted in secret. Some Russian media, such as Pskovskaya Guberniya, reported that Russian paratroopers may have been killed in Ukraine. Journalists traveled to Pskov,
the reported burial location of the troops, to investigate. Multiple
reporters said they had been attacked or threatened there, and that the
attackers erased several camera memory cards. Pskovskaya Guberniya
revealed transcripts of phone conversations between Russian soldiers
being treated in a Pskov hospital for wounds received while fighting in
Ukraine. The soldiers reveal that they were sent to the war, but told by
their officers that they were going on "an exercise".
On 24 August 2014, Amvrosiivka was occupied by Russian paratroopers. Ten Russian paratroopers of the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, military unit 71211 from Kostroma, were captured in Dzerkalne that day, a village near Amvrosiivka, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the border, after their armored vehicles were hit by Ukrainian artillery. On 25 August, the Security Service of Ukraine reported about the captured paratroopers, claiming they've crossed Ukrainian border in the night of 23 August. The SBU also released their photos and names. The next day, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that they had crossed the border "by accident".
On 31 August, the Russian media reported that ten Russian paratroopers
captured inside Ukraine had returned home following a troop exchange.
The 64 Ukrainian troops provided in exchange were captured after
entering Russia to escape the upsurge in fighting. Russia claimed that the Russian troops had mistakenly crossed an unmarked area of the border while on patrol.
Ukraine released videos of captured Russian soldiers which challenged
Russia's claim that it had nothing to do with the conflict.
On 29 August, after Ukrainian forces agreed to surrender Ilovaisk,
they were bombarded by Russian forces while they evacuated through a
"green corridor." The assault on the troops who were marked with white
flags was variously described as a "massacre." At least 100 were killed.
According to Bellingcat,
Russian military vehicles crossing the border of Ukraine and artillery
positions close to the Ukrainian borders are clearly visible on
satellite photos from 23 August 2014.
Mariupol incursion
On 25 August, a column of Russian tanks and military vehicles was
reported to have crossed into Ukraine in the southeast, near the town of
Novoazovsk located on the Azov sea coast, and headed towards Ukrainian-held Mariupol. The Bellingcat's investigation reveals some details of this operation. Russian forces captured the city of Novoazovsk.
and Russian soldiers began arresting and deporting to unknown locations
all Ukrainians who did not have an address registered within the town. Pro-Ukrainian anti-war protests took place in Mariupol which was threatened by Russian troops. The UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
On 3 September, a Sky News team filmed groups of troops near Novoazovsk
wearing modern combat gear typical for Russian units and traveling in
new military vehicles with number plates and other markings removed.
Specialists consulted by the journalists identified parts of the
equipment (uniform, rifles) as currently used by Russian ground forces
and paratroopers.
Result
On 3 September, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said he had reached a permanent ceasefire agreement with Russian President Putin. Russia then denied the ceasefire took place, denying being party to the conflict at all. Ukraine then retracted its previous statement concerning the potential ceasefire.
Also on 3 September, the OSCE
for the first time reported "light and heavy calibre shootings from the
east and south-east areas which are also bordering Ukraine". The report
also stated that the OSCE Observer Teams had seen an increase of
military-style dressed men crossing the border in both directions,
including ones with LPR and Novorossiya symbols and flags, and wounded
being transported back to Russia.
Reaction
Lindsey Hilsum wrote in the Channel 4 news blog that in early September Ukrainian troops at Dmytrivka came under attack from BM-30 Smerch rockets from Russia.
On 4 September, she wrote of rumours that Ukrainian troops who had been
shelling Luhansk for weeks were retreating west and that Russian
soldiers with heavy armour were reported to have come over the border to
back up the rebels.
Journalist Tim Judah wrote in the NYR
blog about the scale of the devastation suffered by Ukrainian forces in
southeastern Ukraine over the last week of August 2014 that it amounted
"to a catastrophic defeat and will long be remembered by embittered
Ukrainians as among the darkest days of their history." The scale of the
destruction achieved in several ambushes revealed "that those attacking
the pro-government forces were highly professional and using very
powerful weapons." The fighting in Ilovaysk had begun on 7 August when
units from three Ukrainian volunteer militias and the police attempted
to take it back from rebel control. Then, on 28 August, the rebels were
able to launch a major offensive, with help from elsewhere, including
Donetsk—though "not Russia," according to Commander Givi, the head of
rebel forces there. By 1 September it was all over and the Ukrainians
had been decisively defeated. Commander Givi said the ambushed forces
were militias, not regular soldiers, whose numbers had been boosted, 'by
foreigners, including Czechs, Hungarians, and "niggers." '
Mick Krever wrote on the CNN
blog that on 5 September Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE,
Andrey Kelin had said it was natural pro-Russian separatists "are going
to liberate" Mariupol.
Ukrainian forces stated that Russian intelligence groups had been
spotted in the area. Kelin said 'there might be volunteers over there.'
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen meanwhile said there were
several thousand regular Russian forces operating in Ukraine.[citation needed]Lindsey Hilsum reported on the Channel 4 news blog about the total destruction of Luhansk International Airport
which was being used as a base by the Ukrainian forces to shell
Luhansk, probably because the Russians decided to 'turn the tide' - the
terminal building and everything around was utterly destroyed. Forces
from Azerbaijan, Belarus and Tajikistan who were fighting on the side of
the rebels allowed themselves to be filmed.
On 12 September 2014, the Guardian saw a Russian armoured personnel carrier in Lutuhyne.
The next day, it was reported that Moscow had sent a convoy of trucks
delivering "aid" into Ukraine without Kiev's consent. This convoy was
not inspected by Ukraine or accompanied by the ICRC. Top Ukrainian
leaders largely remained silent about the convoys after the ceasefire
deal was reached. The "aid" was part of the 12-point Minsk agreement.
The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament and Russian state television channels acknowledged that Russian soldiers entered Ukraine, but referred to them as "volunteers". A reporter for Novaya Gazeta,
an opposition newspaper in Russia, stated that the Russian military
leadership paid soldiers to resign their commissions and fight in
Ukraine in the early summer of 2014, and then began ordering soldiers
into Ukraine. This reporter mentioned knowledge of at least one case
when soldiers who refused were threatened with prosecution. Russian opposition MP Lev Shlosberg
made similar statements, although he said combatants from his country
are "regular Russian troops", disguised as units of the DPR and LPR.
In December, Ukrainian hackers published a large cache of
documents coming allegedly from a hacked server of Russian Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MID). The documents originated from various
departments coordinated by MID, such as local police, road police,
emergency services etc. The cache included documents describing Russian
military casualties arriving on 25 August to hospitals in the Rostov
area after a battle "10 km northwest of the small village of Prognoi",
which matched a battle in Krasnaya Talovka reported on the same date by
Ukrainian side.
In early September 2014, Russian state-owned television channels
reported on the funerals of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine during
the war in Donbass, but described them as "volunteers" fighting for the "Russian world". Valentina Matviyenko, a top politician in the ruling United Russia party, also praised "volunteers" fighting in "our fraternal nation", referring to Ukraine.
Russian state television for the first time showed the funeral of a
soldier killed fighting in east Ukraine. State-controlled TV station
Channel One showed the burial of paratrooper Anatoly Travkin in the
central Russian city of Kostroma.
The broadcaster said Travkin had not told his wife or commanders about
his decision to fight alongside pro-Russia rebels battling government
forces. "Officially he just went on leave," the news reader said.
After a series of military defeats and setbacks for the Donetsk and Lugansk separatists, who united under the banner of "Novorossiya", a term Russian President Vladimir Putin used to describe southeastern Ukraine, Russia dispatched what it called a "humanitarian convoy" of trucks across the Russo-Ukrainian border in mid-August 2014. Ukraine reacted to the move by calling it a "direct invasion".
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council published a report on
the number and contents of these convoys, claiming they were arriving
almost daily in November (up to 9 convoys on 30 November) and their
contents were mainly arms and ammunition. In total, in November there
were 1,903 trucks crossing the border from Russia to Donbass, 20 buses
with soldiers or volunteers, 402 armoured personnel carriers, 256 tanks,
138 "Grad" launchers, 42 cannons and howitzers, 35 self-propelled
artillery vehicles, 5 "Buk" launchers, 4 "Uragan" launchers, 4
"Buratino" flamethrowers, 6 pontoon bridge trucks, 5 "Taran" radio
interception systems, 5 armoured recovery vehicles, 3 radiolocation
systems, 2 truck cranes, 1 track layer vehicle, 1 radiolocation station,
unknown number of "Rtut-BM" electronic warfare systems, 242 fuel
tankers and 205 light off-road vehicles and vans.
About the same time, multiple reports indicated separatist
militias were receiving reinforcements that allowed them to turn the
tables on government forces. Armoured columns coming from Russia also pushed into southern Donetsk Oblast and reportedly captured the town of Novoazovsk, clashing with Ukrainian forces and opening a new front in the Donbass conflict.
Russian officials denied reports that Russian military units were operating in Ukraine, claiming instead they had been sent on routine drills close to the border with Ukraine and crossed the border by mistake.
On 28 August 2014 Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's
crisis management center, said that "over 1,000 Russian troops are now
operating inside Ukraine".
On 5 September, Sergey Krivenko, a member of Russian President's
Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, commented on the growing
number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, saying that "the situation
now is very strange, something unusual is going on; it could be
described as massive dying of soldiers, which is not typical for a time
of peace; people from different military units are killed as a result of
shots, from loss of blood, all these reasons are documented; and the
military command explains that it happened during training or provides
no explanation at all".
November escalation
On
7 November, NATO officials confirmed the continued invasion of Ukraine,
with 32 Russian tanks, 16 howitzer cannons and 30 trucks of troops
entering the country.
On 12 November, NATO reiterated the prevalence of Russian troops; US
general Philip Breedlove said "Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian
air defence systems and Russian combat troops" were sighted. The Lithuanian Mission to the United Nations denounced Russia's 'undeclared war' on Ukraine.
Journalist Menahem Kahana took a picture showing a 1RL232 "Leopard"
battlefield surveillance radar system in Torez, east of Donetsk; and
Dutch freelance journalist Stefan Huijboom took pictures which showed
the 1RL232 traveling with the 1RL239 "Lynx" radar system.
Burnt-out remains of tanks and vehicles left after battles appeared to provide further evidence of Russian involvement.
The Associated Press reported 80 unmarked military vehicles on
the move in rebel-controlled areas. Three separate columns were
observed, one near the main separatist stronghold of Donetsk and two
outside the town of Snizhne. Several of the trucks were seen to be carrying troops.
OSCE monitors further observed vehicles apparently used to
transport soldiers' dead bodies crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border –
in one case a vehicle marked with Russia's military code for soldiers killed in action crossed from Russia into Ukraine on 11 November 2014 and later returned. On 23 January 2015 the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers warned about conscripts being sent to east Ukraine.
NATO said it had seen an increase in Russian tanks, artillery pieces
and other heavy military equipment in eastern Ukraine and renewed its
call for Moscow to withdraw its forces.
The Center for Eurasian Strategic Intelligence estimated, based
on "official statements and interrogation records of captured military
men from these units, satellite surveillance data" as well as verified
announcements from relatives and profiles in social networks, that over
30 Russian military units were taking part in the conflict in Ukraine.
In total, over 8,000 soldiers had fought there at different moments. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
stated that the Russian separatists enjoyed technical advantages over
the Ukrainian army since the large inflow of advanced military systems
in mid-2014: effective anti-aircraft weapons ("Buk", MANPADS) suppressed
Ukrainian air strikes, Russian drones provided intelligence, and
Russian secure communications system thwarted the Ukrainian side from
communications intelligence. The Russian side also frequently employed
electronic warfare systems that Ukraine lacked. Similar conclusions
about the technical advantage of the Russian separatists were voiced by
the Conflict Studies Research Centre.
In November 2014, Igor Girkin gave a long interview to the extreme right-wing nationalist newspaper Zavtra
("Tomorrow") where for the first time he released details about the
beginning of the conflict in Donbass. According to Girkin, he was the
one who "pulled the trigger of war" and it was necessary because
acquisition of Crimea alone by Russia "did not make sense" and Crimea as
part of the Novorossiya "would make the jewel in the crown of the Russian Empire". Girkin had been directed to Donbass by Sergey Aksyonov
and he entered Ukraine with a group of 52 officers in April, initially
taking Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and then other cities. Girkin also talked
about the situation in August, when separatist forces were close to
defeat and only a prompt intervention of Russian "leavers" (ironic term
for "soldiers on leave") saved them. Their forces took command in the
siege of Mariupol as well.
In response to internal criticism of the Russian government's policy of
not officially recognizing Russian soldiers in Ukraine as fulfilling
military service and leaving their families without any source of income
if they are killed, president Vladimir Putin signed a new law in
October entitling their families to a monthly compensation. Two new
entitlement categories were added: "missing in action" and "declared
dead" (as of 1 January 2016).
Alexandr Negrebetskih, a deputy from the Russian city of Zlatoust
who fought as a volunteer on the side of separatists, complained in an
interview that "the locals run to Russia, and we have to come here as
they are reluctant to defend their land" which resulted in his
detachment being composed of 90% Russians and only 10% locals from Donetsk.
In November, Lev Shlosberg published a response from a military
attorney's office to questions he asked about the status of Pskov
paratroopers killed in Ukraine in August. The office answered that the
soldiers died while "fulfilling military service outside of their
permanent dislocation units" (Pskov), but any further information on
their orders or location of death was withheld as "classified". A
political expert Alexey Makarkin compared these answers to those
provided by Soviet ministry of defence during the Soviet–Afghan War when the USSR attempted to hide the scale of their casualties at any cost.
Numerous reports of Russian troops and warfare on Ukrainian territory were raised in United Nations Security Council meetings. In 12 November meeting, the representative of the United Kingdom also accused Russia of intentionally constraining OSCE
observatory missions' capabilities, pointing out that the observers
were allowed to monitor only two kilometers of border between Ukraine
and Russia, and drones deployed to extend their capabilities were being
jammed or shot down.
In November, Armament Research Services published a detailed
report on arms used by both sides of the conflict, documenting a number
of "flag items". Among vehicles, they documented the presence of T-72B
Model 1989 and T-72B3 tanks, armoured vehicles of models BTR-82AM, MT-LB
6MA, MT-LBVM, and MT-LBVMK, and an Orlan-10 drone and 1RL239 radar
vehicle. Among the ammunition, they documented 9K38 Igla (date of manufacture 2014), ASVK rifle (2012), RPG-18 rocket launchers (2011), 95Ya6 rocket boosters (2009) MRO-A (2008), 9M133 Kornet
anti-tank weapons (2007), PPZR Grom (2007), MON-50 (2002), RPO-A
(2002), PKP (2001), OG-7 (2001), and VSS rifles (1987). These weapons,
mostly manufactured in Russia, were used by pro-Russian separatists in
the conflict zone, but never "were in the Ukrainian government inventory
prior to the outbreak of hostilities". The report also noted the use of
PPZR Grom MANPADs,
produced in Poland and never exported to Ukraine. They were however
exported to Georgia in 2007 and subsequently captured by the Russian
army during the Russian-Georgian War 2008. Also in November, Pantsir-S1 units were observed in separatist-controlled areas near Novoazovsk, which were never part of the UAF's inventory. Bellingcat
maintains a dedicated database of geolocated images of military
vehicles specific to each side of the conflict, mostly focused on
Russian military equipment found on Ukrainian territory.
2015
In January 2015, an image of a BPM-97 apparently inside Ukraine, in Luhansk, provided further evidence of Russian military vehicles inside Ukraine.
Poroshenko
spoke of a dangerous escalation on 21 January amid reports of more than
2,000 additional Russian troops crossing the border, together with 200
tanks and armed personnel carriers. He abbreviated his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos because of his concerns at the worsening situation.
In January, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Mariupol
were the three cities that represented the three fronts on which
Ukraine was pressed by forces armed, trained and backed by Russia.
On 29 January, the chief of Ukraine's General Military Staff Viktor Muzhenko
said 'the Ukrainian army is not engaged in combat operations against
Russian regular units,' but that he had information about Russian
civilian and military individuals fighting alongside 'illegal armed
groups in combat activities.' Reporting from DPR-controlled areas on 28 January, the OSCE observed on the outskirts of Khartsyzk,
east of Donetsk, "a column of five T-72 tanks facing east, and
immediately after, another column of four T-72 tanks moving east on the
same road which was accompanied by four unmarked military trucks, type
URAL. All vehicles and tanks were unmarked." It reported on an
intensified movement of unmarked military trucks, covered with canvas. After the shelling of residential areas in Mariupol, NATO's Jens Stoltenberg
said: "Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are supporting these offensive
operations with command and control systems, air defence systems with
advanced surface-to-air missiles, unmanned aerial systems, advanced
multiple rocket launcher systems, and electronic warfare systems."'
Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven, was accused of treason for
calling the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements and arrested
on 27 January 2015. She was held at the high-security Lefortovo jail
in Moscow until her release on 3 February with charges against her
still pending. The Russian General Staff said details of the case
constituted a "state secret."
In 2015, president Putin awarded the honorary name of "Guards" to two divisions: 11. paratroopers brigade from Ulan-Ude, 83. paratroopers brigade from Ussuriysk and 38. communications regiment from Moscow area. The status was awarded for undisclosed combat operations.
Both Ukrainian and DNR
sides have reported unknown sabotage groups firing at both sides of the
conflict and also on residential areas, calling them a "third force". SBU
published an intercepted call in which DNR commanders reported such a
group had been arrested with Russian passports and military documents.
DNR confirmed that such groups were indeed stopped and "destroyed" but
called them "Ukrainian sabotage groups working to discredit the armed
forces of the Russian Federation".
According to a top U.S. general, Russian supplied drones and electronic jamming have ensured Ukrainian troops struggle to counter artillery fire by pro-Russian militants. "The rebels have Russian-provided UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that are giving the rebels the detection capability and the ability to target Ukrainian forces". Advanced electronic jamming was also reported by OSCE observers on numerous occasions.
US Army commander in Europe Ben Hodges stated in February 2015
that "it's very obvious from the amount of ammunition, type of
equipment, there's direct Russian military intervention in the
Debaltseve area".
On 9 February 2015, a group of twenty contract soldiers from Murmansk
raised an official complaint to the Russian ministry of defence when
they were told they would "go to the Rostov area and possibly cross the
Ukrainian border to fulfill their patriotic duty". The soldiers notified
human rights activists and requested the orders in written form, which
they were not given.
On 13 February, a young soldier, Ilya Kudryavtsev, was found dead after
calling home and informing his relatives that he was to be sent on a
mission to Rostov-on-Don, which is the usual starting point to Ukraine.
Although he was severely beaten, his death was officially classified as a
suicide.
According to estimates by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs,
Russian separatists forces number around 36,000 troops (as compared to
34,000 Ukrainian), of which 8,500-10,000 are purely Russian soldiers.
Additionally, around 1,000 GRU troops are operating in the area.
According to a military expert, Ilya Kramnik, total Ukrainian forces
outnumber the Russian forces by a factor of two (20,000 Russian
separatists vs. 40,000 fighting for Ukraine).
In March 2015, Novaya Gazeta published an interview with a Russian soldier, Dorzhi Batomunkuev, who operated a tank in the Battle of Debaltseve and was wounded. He confirmed that the tanks came from his military unit in Ulan-Ude
in Russia and that his unit "painted over the serial numbers and unit
signs straight away on the rail platforms". In November 2014,
Batomunkuev was sent as a conscript to Rostov-on-Don,
where he became a contract soldier. Traveling by train with his unit
from Ulan-Ude, Batomunkuev said he saw "plenty of such trains"
travelling along with them "day after day". After three months at
Kosminskiy training facility, their unit of 31 tanks and 300 soldiers in
total (mostly Buryats)
was given an order to move on 8 February 2015 and crossed the Ukrainian
border in the night, arriving in Donetsk in the morning. They took part
in the battle on 12–14 February. Joseph Kobzon met Batomunkuev in the same hospital a few days before the NG interview. In 2016 Alexander Minakov, another Russian soldier wounded in the
battle of Debaltseve, was awarded a medal "For services to the
Fatherland".
A report by Igor Sutyagin published by the Royal United Services Institute
in March 2015 stated that a total of 42,000 regular Russian combat
troops have been involved in the fighting, with a peak strength of
10,000 in December 2014. The direct involvement of the Russian troops on
Ukrainian territory began in August 2014, at a time when Ukrainian
military successes created the possibility that the pro-Russian rebels
would collapse. According to the report, the Russian troops are the most
capable units on the anti-Ukrainian side, with the regular Donetsk and
Luhansk rebel formations being used essentially as "cannon fodder". The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
stated that the Russian separatists enjoyed technical advantages over
the Ukrainian army since the large inflow of advanced military systems
in mid-2014: effective anti-aircraft weapons ("Buk", MANPADS) suppressed
Ukrainian air strikes, Russian drones provided intelligence, and
Russian secure communications system thwarted the Ukrainian side from
communications intelligence. The Russian side also frequently employed
electronic warfare systems that Ukraine lacked. Similar conclusions
about the technical advantage of the Russian separatists were voiced by
the Conflict Studies Research Centre.
In February 2015, the leading independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported
that it had obtained documents, allegedly written by oligarch
Konstantin Malofayev and others, which provided the Russian government
with a strategy in the event of Viktor Yanukovych's removal from power
and the break-up of Ukraine, which were considered likely. The documents
outlined plans for the annexation of Crimea and the eastern portions of
the country, closely describing the events that actually followed after
Yanukovych's fall. The documents also described plans for a public
relations campaign which would seek to justify Russian actions.
In March 2015, a commander of the DPR special forces unit, Dmitry Sapozhnikov, gave an interview to the BBC[354]
in which he spoke openly about the involvement of Russian soldiers in
the conflict. He described the arrival of Russian military vehicles and
personnel from across the border as critical to the success of
large-scale operations such as the battle of Debaltseve.
Russian high-rank officers planned the operations and regular Russian
army units with DPR forces carried them out jointly. In Sapozhnikov's
opinion, "everyone knows that" and it's "no secret", but he was
surprised to find out that it is not so widely acknowledged in Russia
when he returned to Saint Petersburg.
In April 2015, a group of Russian volunteers returning to Ekaterinburg
complained in an interview to local media about a lack of support from
the local population, who sometimes called them "occupiers", and their
highly ambiguous status while in Donbass: Ukraine and "the court in
Madrid" considered them to be terrorists; the DPR considered them
"illegal armed groups" and offered them contracts, but if they signed
they would become mercenaries under Russian law. Another volunteer, a citizen of Latvia nicknamed "Latgalian",
told on his return from Donbass that he was disappointed with how the
situation there differed from what he had seen in the Russian media: he
saw no support and sometimes open hostility to the insurgents from the
local civilians, presence of Russian troops and military equipment. Also in early April, a number of Russian spetznaz soldiers took pictures of themselves changing their military uniforms into "miner's battledress" used by the insurgents, and posted them on their VK pages, where they were picked up by Ukrainian media.
Another volunteer, Bondo Dorovskih, who left to Donbass to "fight
fascism" gave a long interview to Russian media on his return,
describing how he found himself "not in an army, but in a gang",
involved in large-scale looting. He also described the methods used by
Russian army to covertly deliver military equipment, people and
ammunition to Donbass, as well as hostile attitude of the local civilian
population.
On 22 April 2015, the US Department of State
accused the "combined Russian-separatist forces" of accumulating air
defence systems, UAV along with command and control equipment in eastern
Ukraine, and of conducting "complex" military training that "leaves no
doubt that Russia is involved in the training". Russia is also
reinforcing its military presence on the eastern border with Ukraine as
well as near Belgorod which is close to Kharkiv.
In May 2015, Reuters
interviewed a number of Russian soldiers, some named and some speaking
under condition of anonymity, who were serving in Donbass as truck
drivers, crew of a T-72B3 tank and of a "Grad" launcher. Some of their
colleagues resigned when asked to go to Donbass by their commanders,
which was "not an easy decision" because the salary offered was between
20 and 60,000 rubles per month. The members of the "Grad" launcher crew
confirmed they were shelling targets in Ukraine from Russian territory,
around 2 km from the border.
Allies of Boris Nemtsov released Putin. War, a report on Russian involvement that he had been working on before his death.
Other Russian opposition activists announced that they had found fresh
graves of members of a GRU special forces brigade that had operated in
Ukraine.
In May, two GRU soldiers, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny
Yerofeyev, were captured alive in a battle near Schastie and were later
interviewed by press, admitting to being on active duty at the time of
capture. Russian military command declared they left active service in
December 2014, a claim that was repeated on Russian television by the
wife of Alexandrov. Consequently, Ukraine declared it would try them as terrorists, not prisoners of war, and a controversy developed in the Russian press regarding the status of the soldiers.
At the same time, Russian journalists found out that their families
were strictly isolated from contacts with press and the captured
soldiers.
While Alexandrov declared he would seek legal methods to confirm his
status in Russia, military analyst Alexander Golts considers this
impossible as special forces soldiers routinely sign contract
termination declaration to be backdated in such a situation.
Shortly afterward, a Russian military drone, "Forpost", was shot
down near Avdeevka and recovered in good condition, with all the serial
numbers and nameplates intact. On 28 May 2015, the Atlantic Council released Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine, a report which they said provided "irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine".
On 17 May 2015 two Russian soldiers of the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade were captured by Secret Service of Ukraine during a battle near town Shchastya (Lughansk oblast, Ukraine). On 18 May they were transferred to Kiev. On 19 May a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the two named prisoners were not active servicemen when they were captured, thus depriving the two Russians of their status as combatants and their protection under the Geneva Convention. The head of Ukraine's Security Service stated that the two men will be prosecuted for "terrorist acts". On 20 May 2015 members of the OSCE mission to Ukraine spoke with the Russian soldiers in the hospital.[374] The OSCE 20 May 2015 report includes the following:
One of them said he had received
orders from his military unit to go to Ukraine; he was to "rotate" after
three months. Both of them said they had been to Ukraine "on missions"
before.
In June 2015, Vice News reporter Simon Ostrovsky investigated the movements of Bato Dambaev, a Russian contract soldier from Buryatia, through a military camp in Rostov Oblast to Vuhlehirsk in Ukraine during the battle of Debaltseve
and back to Buryatia, finding exact locations where Dambaev
photographed himself, and came to a conclusion that Dambaev had fought
in Ukraine while in active service in the Russian army. With Russia refusing to allow the OSCE
to expand its mission, OSCE observer Paul Picard stated that "We often
see how Russian media outlets manipulate our statements. They say that
we have not seen Russian troops crossing the borders. But that only
applies to two border crossings. We have no idea what is going on at the
others."
In July 2015, Ukraine arrested a Russian officer, Vladimir
Starkov, when his truck loaded with ammunition took a wrong turn and
ended up at a Ukrainian checkpoint. On arrest, Starkov declared that he
was a Russian military officer in active service and later explained
that he was officially assigned to a Russian military unit in Novocherkassk, but immediately on arrival reassigned to join DPR forces.
In November 2015, a Russian judge accepted serving in the DNR militia as a mitigating circumstance.
On 17 December 2015, Putin admitted that Russian military intelligence
officers were operating in Ukraine, stating "We never said there were
not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military
sphere."
2016
In September
2016 OSCE monitoring mission noticed military trucks with partially
covered Russian number plates 26 km east from Donetsk.
Also in September a Russian soldier Denis Sidorov surrendered to the
Ukrainian forces in Shirokaya Balka, revealing details of Russian
leadership of the local DNR forces in the area.
On 17 October 2016 the OSCE mission noted a minivan with "black licence plates with white lettering" which are used on military vehicles in Russia. A number of people in civilian and military camouflage were travelling on the vehicle.
Details of Russian involvement
Some of the military equipment being used in the Donbass War
Russia officially has long denied organized presence of their
military units in Ukraine. Nevertheless, evidence of its soldiers'
involvement is rampant.
OSCE monitoring mission has on numerous occasions spotted military
convoys covertly crossing the border from Russia into Donbass, as well as presence of military equipment produced in Russia and never exported to Ukraine.
On 25 August 2014 ten Russian paratroopers were captured in
Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense maintained that the men were
lost and crossed the border into Ukraine by accident. In May 2015 two suspected Russian GRU agents (Military intelligence)
were detained by Ukrainian forces, Russia's Ministry of Defense stated
the men were former soldiers who were not on active duty at the time of
capture. The two men were later exchanged for captured Ukrainian pilot
and politician Nadiya Savchenko
In July 2015 a Russian major was detained near Donetsk as he drove an
ammunition truck into a Ukrainian checkpoint, the Russian military
maintained the man was not involved with the Russian military and fought
for local separatists. The major was later exchanged for captured
Ukrainian soldiers.
In September 2015 Ukraine's border guards detained 2 Russian internal
troops when they crossed the border in Ukraine's Luhansk oblast, the
Russian servicemen stated they were lost and crossed the border by
accident, with the Russian Military of Defense accusing Ukraine's forces
of crossing into the nearby Russian village and abducting the
servicemen. In October 2015, Russian Ministry of Defence admitted that "special
forces were pulled out of Ukraine and sent to Syria" and that they were
serving in eastern Ukraine on territories held by pro-Russian rebels.
On 17 December 2015 when asked about the two detained Russian citizens
in Ukraine who were being accused of being military intelligence
officers President Vladimir Putin responded: "We never said there were
not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military
sphere." This was generally taken as an admission that Russian military
operatives were deployed to Ukraine. Before that declaration there had been a large amount of circumstantial evidence that confirmed the presence of Russia's military.
Large part of the circumstantial evidence are military vehicles and weapons that are unique to Russian armed forces and never present in Ukraine before the conflict captured by journalists and found on social media. The OSCE monitoring mission has also noted the presence of troops declaring themselves as Russian servicemen in DPR-controlled territory. As the rest of the post-Soviet republics every Russian military equipment has a hull number (bortovoi nomer). However equipment in possession of the LPR and DPR has all hull number painted over to conceal its relation to the Russian Armed Forces.
Russian citizen and Sparta Battalion commander Arseny Pavlov in Donetsk, 25 December 2014
In 2015, NATO spokesman Robert Pszczel stated in an interview for Dozhd
TV that the alliance has sufficient evidence to make "28 member states
of the alliance have no doubts about military involvement of Russia" in
the Donbass conflict.
In a battle at Donetsk airport at least 31 of the people killed were Russian citizens and were delivered back to Russia. A report for the independent news site Novaya Gazeta, reprinted in The Guardian,
tracked down the widow of one Russian man who died during the fighting
at Donetsk airport, and sought to shed light onto the obscure structures
that organised the transfer of fighters to Ukraine. The report further
highlighted the 'frustration of dealing with Russian officialdom
apparently so keen to cover up all traces of those fighting across the
border'.
Aleksandr Zakharchenko takes an oath of office as the Prime Minister of Donetsk People's Republic,
8 August 2014. In August too he said 1200 fighters trained in Russia
for four months, crossed and were ready to fight. He said the
reinforcements included 30 tanks and 120 armoured vehicles.[407]
Alexander Zakharchenko
said that 1200 fighters had trained in Russia for four months, crossed
the border, and were ready to fight. Zakharchenko said the
reinforcements included 30 tanks and 120 armoured vehicles. He later denied making the comments.
Cases of Russian soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine are
widely discussed in local Russian media in the republics from which they
originated.
Recruitment for Donbass is performed rather openly via veteran and
other paramilitary organisations. Vladimir Yefimov, leader of one of
such organisations, explained in details in an interview how the process
works in Ural
area. The organisation recruits mostly army veterans, but also
policemen, firefighters etc. with military experience. The cost of
equipping one volunteer is estimated at around 350,000 rubles
(around $6500) plus cost of the volunteer's salary from 60,000 to
240,000 rubles per month depending on their experience. The volunteers
are issued a document claiming that their participation is limited to
"offering humanitarian help" to avoid Russian mercenary
laws. In Russia's anti-mercenary legislation a mercenary is defined as
someone who "takes part [in fighting] with aims counter to the interests
of the Russian Federation".
The recruited travel to the conflict zone without weapons, which are
given at the destination. Often, Russian troops have travelled disguised
as Red Cross personnel. Igor Trunov, head of Russian Red Cross in Moscow condemned these
convoys, saying they made delivery of real humanitarian aid more
difficult.
Another leader of a "patriotic organisation" from Orsk,
Pavel Korovin, estimated that a total of around 12,000 fighters for
Donbass had been recruited from Russia. A significant proportion were
people in difficult financial situations, attracted by a high salary
(one of the volunteers was promised 100,000 rubles or $1600). Responding
to concerns about crossing the Ukrainian border, he explained that
"there is a green light for the volunteers on the border" and "all that
is covered by appropriate structures". The family of a killed volunteer,
when asking about help in bringing back the body, is advised to "speak
to the FSB, only they are controlling everything there".
Shortly before his death, Boris Nemtsov was reportedly contacted by a group of "paratroopers from Ivanovo"
who complained about significant losses in their unit during a battle
in Ukraine and the lack of the promised payment. Nemtsov was preparing a
larger report documenting cases of Russian soldiers taking part in the war in Donbass, which is considered a possible reason for his assassination.
The repatriation of Russians killed in action or taken as
prisoners of war has become a controversial topic in the media due to
the Russian state's denial of involvement in Ukraine. The Associated Press compared it to the Soviet Union's secrecy during its war in Afghanistan, noting "When the true numbers of casualties became known, the invasion turned unpopular." Russian military officials tell family members only that the soldiers are on "training exercises".
Valentina Melnikova, head of the Russian Union of Committees of
Soldiers' Mothers, has said that the Russian authorities were
threatening the relatives of soldiers who had been killed in Ukraine,
and forcing them to keep silent about their deaths. The Kremlin
has tried to systematically intimidate and silence human rights workers
who have raised questions about Russian soldiers' deaths in Ukraine. In mid-September 2014, Ksenia Batanova, a senior producer for the news network Dozhd, was assaulted in an attack that fractured her skull. Dozhd
is a channel that has covered the Russian involvement in Ukraine, and
kept a running tally of soldiers' deaths. The Kremlin's pressure on Dozhd intensified during the Ukraine crisis.
The BBC reported on the death on 12 August 2014 of a Russian soldier,
Konstantin, whose telephone calls to his sister had spoken of Ukraine.
The BBC team was stopped and attacked by thugs and its video camera
smashed.
Lev Shlosberg, an MP who was beaten unconscious after investigating the
deaths of twelve paratroopers, said, "A great many Russian servicemen
have died in Ukraine and their families are outraged but they don't
speak out because they are afraid for their lives." Boris Vishnevsky, of the Yabloko political party, and Lyudmila Ivakhnina of the civil rights group Memorial,
said that gathering information about conscripts pressured to sign
professional contracts is difficult because of the fear of reprisals.
The Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia
started actively questioning the government's policy of "secret war"
after a number of Russian soldiers officially sent for "training" to
Rostov area died for reasons never officially revealed to the families.
These cases were further investigated by non-mainstream media in Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defence always denied the presence of any
Russian soldiers in Ukraine and, when presented with undeniable evidence
about specific individuals, suggested that they might have crossed the
border "by mistake", were "on holiday" at the time, or that their
contracts were cancelled (but actually backdated). Soldier's Mothers
stated that if the deceased Russian soldiers weren't officially sent to
the war zone, their families would not receive social support and the
veteran's pension.
On 2 October 2014, RBC published An RBC investigation: Where Russian soldiers in Ukraine are from,
in which it listed Russian military divisions, soldiers of which are
assumed to have been secretly dispatched from Russia to Ukraine and used
there. In 2015, Vice News published a series titled Russia's Ghost Army in Ukraine
in which they spoke to a number of families of Russian soldiers killed
in Ukraine. The mother of Sergey Andrianov, a Russian from Podsolnechnoe
in Samara Oblast
who was killed on 28 August 2014, presents a number of documents she
received from her son's military unit: the death certificate issued in Rostov-on-Don
that specifies that he died at a "place of temporary placement" while
"completing a special task" and a document certifying "transportation of
the body through the border of Russian Federation". All of the mother's
questions to her son's commanders were dismissed as a "state secret"
and she was told that she would receive compensation of 100,000 rubles
($1600).
According to soldiers' rights advocates, the families of Russian
soldiers killed after being sent to Ukraine have been told to keep
silent, and some families say they have not received the various
compensations they are entitled to after a breadwinner in military
service has been killed.
Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven, was arrested in 2015, accused of
treason for calling the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements,
and was held at the high-security Lefortovo jail in Moscow. The Russian General Staff said details of the case constituted a "state secret". The charges against Davydova were dropped the following month.
An amendment signed by Putin in late May 2015 banned information about
the deaths of Russian servicemen "during special operations" in
peacetime.
Discussing Russian volunteers in an interview with RIA Novosti on 22 June 2015, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of Russia, stated: "We don't call on anyone to do this, we don't encourage it. But realistically, to stop them would be impossible". While Russia has charged one of its citizens, Roman Zheleznov, for fighting in the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, as of 25 June 2015, it has charged no one for fighting alongside the separatists.
Since counting began on 1 September 2014 until 1 June 2015, the
European monitoring mission on the Russian side of the border has
recorded 20,021 men in military uniforms crossing to and from
rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.
In July 2015, a number of Russian contract soldiers at "Kadamovskiy" poligon (Rostovskaya oblast) were charged with desertion
after they refused to go into Ukraine as "volunteers". They reported
frequent visits of recruiters promising veteran status and daily payment
of 8,000 rubles for those fighting in Donbass. They said they were
unaware that the money is rarely paid and in case of death, capture or
injury in battle they will be most likely abandoned and their official
military status denied by Russian army.
Later that year they were convicted for "refusal to carry out orders"
in spite of lack of any orders presented by the prosecution and other
inconsistencies.
In September 2015 OSCE monitoring mission spotted Russian TOS-1 "Buratino" thermobaric weapon launchers in separatist training area near Lugansk and in June 2016 its drone spotted a camouflaged R-330ZH "Zhitel" electronic countermeasure station 15 km from Donetsk, these findings being notable as both weapons are unique to the army of Russian Federation.
By October 2015, eastern Ukraine and Crimea were two of Russia's frozen zones.
The chances were that the frozen conflict might persist in the Donbass,
where the fighting was at a low level, but the threat of escalation
remained.
In June 2017 another GRU officer Viktor Ageyev was captured by
Ukrainian Forces in Zhelobok in the Luhansk oblast. Russian Ministry of
Defence denied that he was in active military service but investigation
by BBC Russian Service confirmed Ageyev was on military contract in
Russian army since March 2017.
On 30 June 2017 Sergey Lavrov, Russian minister of foreign affairs, openly admitted and justified Russian involvement in Donbass:
I have read and heard much
criticism regarding our decision to join the fight in Donbass and in
Syria. (...) Would it be acceptable for Russia, considering its
international standing, to keep mum and recognise the coup in Ukraine,
and to leave Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine in the lurch after
the first order issued by the organisers of the anti-constitutional
armed revolt, which was supported by their foreign sponsors, banned many
things that were connected with the Russian language?
— Sergey Lavrov, Primakov Readings International Forum, Moscow, June 30, 2017
Russian medal count
Citizen journalist Eliot Higgins
has pointed to the unusual spike in medals awarded to Russian troops
coinciding with major battles occurring in Ukraine. It was noticed that
between 25 August 2003 and 7 November 2014 there was 0.6 medals For Distinction in Combat
awarded to Russian servicemen per day. However, between 7 November 2014
and 18 February 2016 there was an average of 9.3 medals awarded per
day, over a fifteenfold increase. Moreover, the award dates directly
coincide with major conflicts occurring in Ukraine at the time. August
2014 sees an initial spike of 60 medal per day being awarded, which
coincides with reports of regular Russian troops crossing into Ukraine
to aid separatist forces. The medal awards peak during November and
December 2014, at over 70 per day, which was a crucial turning point
during the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport, continuing to remain at over 10 medals per day until March 2015, which coincides with the Battle of Debaltseve. Also important to note is that the medal For Distinction in Combat
may only be awarded for activities undertaken during a combat mission,
therefore the large spike in medals awarded in late 2014 and early 2015
suggests a large contingent of Russian servicemen undertaking combat
missions. In all 4300 medals were awarded between 7 July 2014 and 18
February 2016, suggesting combat operations involving active duty
Russian military personnel occurred during the time period. Likewise
spikes in awarding other medals were seen as well. The medal For Courage
which was awarded at a rate of 1.4 medals per day between September
2008 and August 2014 increased to 6.3 medals per day between August 2014
and November 2015. The Medal of Suvorov
saw an increase of award rate from 1.5 medals per day between October
2013 and November 2014 to 6.8 medals per day after November 2014. In
fact in the time period between 24 November 2014 and 25 January 2015
more of the medals were awarded then all of 2013 combined.
Training facility
In a press briefing by the Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), Andriy Parubiy stated that militants were trained in a military facility in Rostov-on-Don,
Russia. "Near Rostov-on-Don, there is a big military base where
terrorists are preparing for deployment into the territory of the
Ukrainian state. This is confirmed not only by our intelligence, but
also Russian prisoners who were detained, and they testify about this
base," Parubiy said. He added that more than a thousand militants are
trained by Russian instructors, and then they in small armed groups try
to break into the territory of Ukraine.
On 21 May, Ukraine detained a Russian citizen trying to enter the
country; he had military experience and was found to have recently
trained in the Rostov facility.
According to Russian 'volunteer' insurgent organiser Aleksandr Zhuchkovsky, Rostov-on-Don acts as a staging area, where soldiers live in hotels, rented flats and tent camps. In particular, the New York Times reports that the small village of Golovinka
(about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Rostov-on-Don) and nearby
Kuzminka military base is a staging area for Russian soldiers and
weapons headed to Ukraine.
In June 2014, Jen Psaki
stated that the United States Department of State was confident that
Russia had sent tanks and rocket launchers from a deployment site in
southwest Russia into eastern Ukraine,
and NATO satellite imagery showed that on 10 and 11 June main battle
tanks were stationed across the border at Donetsk in a staging area in
Rostov-on-Don.
In July 2014, Reuters published a logbook of an 9K38 Igla missile that was signed out of military storage in Moscow for a military base in Rostov-on-Don, and ended up with insurgents in Donbass, where it was eventually taken over by the Ukrainian forces.
After OSCE observers arrived at Gukovo
border crossing on 9 August, they reported that there was a stream of
multiple groups of people wearing military-style dress crossing the
border between Russia and Ukraine, in both directions, some of them
clearly identifying themselves as members of DNR militia. They also
observed several ambulance evacuations of wounded supporters of the DPR
and LPR.
In February 2015, a group of Spanish nationals were arrested in Madrid
for fighting in the war in Donbass on the separatist side. Travelling
through Moscow, they were met by a "government official" and sent to
Donetsk, where they were provided with accommodation, uniforms and
weapons, but they fought as volunteers. They stated there are "a few
hundreds" of Western volunteers, mostly from Serbia and France, "half of them communists, half Nazis", fighting jointly for the "liberation of Russia from Ukrainian invasion".
Governance
In March 2016, Germany's Bild
reported that minutes from an October 2015 meeting of the
"Interministerial Commission for the Provision of Humanitarian Aid for
the Affected Areas of the Southeast of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions"
indicated that Russia was running militant-controlled parts of east
Ukraine. According to Bild, "It is notable that no members of the
self-declared people's republics in eastern Ukraine are on the
commission".
Reactions to the Russian invasion in Crimea
Ukrainian response
Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov
accused Russia of "provoking a conflict" by backing the seizure of the
Crimean parliament building and other government offices on the Crimean
peninsula. He compared Russia's military actions to the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, when Russian troops occupied parts of the Republic of Georgia and the breakaway enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
were established under the control of Russian-backed administrations.
He called on Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Crimea and stated
that Ukraine will "preserve its territory" and "defend its
independence".
On 1 March, he warned, "Military intervention would be the beginning of
war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia."
On 1 March, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov placed the Armed Forces of Ukraine on full alert and combat readiness.
On 15 April 2014 the Law of Ukraine
№ 1207-VII "On Securing the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the
Legal Regime on the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine" was
adopted.
On 16 September 2015 the Ukrainian parliament voted for the law that sets 20 February 2014 as the official date of the Russian temporary occupation of Crimean peninsula. On 7 October 2015 the President of Ukraine signed the law into force.
On 4 March 2014, the United States pledged $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Russia's actions increased tensions in nearby countries historically within its sphere of influence, particularly the Baltic and Moldova. All have large Russian-speaking populations, and Russian troops are stationed in the breakaway Moldovan territory of Transnistria. Some devoted resources to increasing defensive capabilities, and many requested increased support from the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which they had joined in recent years.
The conflict "reinvigorated" NATO, which had been created to face the
Soviet Union, but had devoted more resources to "expeditionary missions"
in recent years.
US officials Assistant Secretary Nuland and Ambassador to Ukraine Pyatt greet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Warsaw on 4 June 2014
NATO increasingly saw Russia as an adversary, though officials hoped this would be temporary.
Initial deployments in March and early April were restricted to
increased air force monitoring and training in the Baltics and Poland,
and single ships in the Black Sea. On 16 April, officials announced the deployment of ships to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, and increasing exercises in "Eastern Europe". The measures were apparently limited so as not to appear aggressive. Leaders emphasized that the conflict was not a new Cold War but some analysts disagreed. Others supported applying George F. Kennan's concept of containment to possible Russian expansion. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul
said, "We are enduring a drift of disengagement in world affairs. As
we pull back, Russia is pushing forward. I worry about the new
nationalism that Putin has unleashed and understand that many young
Russians also embrace these extremist ideas."
Beginning 23 April 600 US troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team held bilateral exercises in Poland and the Baltic.
Plans were made for a communications mission to counter Russian
propaganda in eastern Ukraine, improve internal Ukrainian military
communication, and handle apparent Russian infiltration of the security
services.
Georgia intensified its push for entry into NATO. It had hoped to gain Membership Action Plan status in September. It also expressed interest in a missile defence system via NATO.
Baltic states
On
5 March the Pentagon announced, independently of NATO, that it would
send six fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to augment the four
already participating in the Baltic Air Policing mission.
The US rotation was due to last through the end of April. The Polish Air Force was scheduled to participate from 1 May through 31 August.
Throughout the second half of March, the UK, France, the Czech
Republic, and Denmark all offered aircraft to augment the Polish
rotation. UK officials announced plans to send six Eurofighter Typhoon.
Over the next two weeks, France offered four fighters, and anonymous
officials mentioned possible air support for Poland and stationing AWACs
in Poland and Romania. The Czech Republic offered to deploy fighter aircraft to interested countries bordering or near Ukraine. Denmark planned to send six F-16 fighters.
After some consideration, Germany's Defense Ministry committed to sending six Eurofighters (to reinforce the Portuguese rotation beginning in September) and leading "minesweeping maneuvers" in the Baltic Sea. A multinational group of four minesweeper ships and a supply ship from the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 left Kiel, Germany on 22 April.
Swedish, Lithuanian, and US aircraft took part in exercises over the Baltic in early April. The US was considering establishing a small but "continuous" military force in the Baltic to reassure its allies. NATO and Estonia agreed to base aircraft at the Ämari Air Base, which was reportedly possible due to the increased number of planes offered by allies.
The Lithuanian defence ministry reported that the number of Russian
planes flying close to the border had increased in January and February.
Black and Mediterranean Seas
An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS Truxtun, crossed into the Black Sea on 6 March to participate in long-planned exercises with Bulgaria and Romania. American officials stated that it was part of a routine deployment for exercises with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. The Truxtun left the Black Sea by 28 March, but some politicians argued that it should return as a show of support. An additional 175 Marines were to be deployed to the Black Sea Rotational Force in Romania, though this was decided in late 2012.
On 10 April, the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook
entered the Black Sea to "reassure NATO allies and Black Sea partners
of America's commitment to strengthen and improve interoperability while
working towards mutual goals in the region", according to a Pentagon
spokesman. On 14 April, the ship was repeatedly buzzed by a Su-24 Russian attack aircraft. The Donald Cook left the Black Sea on 28 April, leaving the USS Taylor.
On 30 April, Canada redeployed HMCS Regina from counter-terrorist operations in the Arabian Sea, likely to join Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, which had itself been reassigned to the eastern Mediterranean in response to events in Ukraine.
Poland and Romania
Seven
U.S. F-16's were scheduled to participate in a training exercise in
Poland. On 6 March, it was announced that 12 fighters and 300 service
personnel would go to Poland. The increase was attributed to concerns over Russian activities in Crimea. It was later announced that the detachment from the 555th Fighter Squadron would remain through the end of 2014. Six F-16's were also stationed in Romania with no given departure date.
On 26 March, US and UK defence chiefs agreed to accelerate the development of the NATO missile defence system. Talks were "dominated" by the situation in Ukraine, but officials emphasized that this was not a response to Russian actions.
NATO foreign ministers at a meeting in early April did not rule out
stationing troops in countries near Russia, saying that Russia had
"gravely breached the trust upon which our cooperation must be based".
Poland requested that "two heavy brigades" be stationed on its
territory, to mixed responses; NATO considered increased support for
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova.
On 17 April, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a deployment of six CF-18 jet fighters to be based in Poland, and 20 additional staff officers to the NATO headquarters. The planes were apparently redirected to Romania, along with at least 220 Canadian personnel.
On 24 April, France announced the deployment of four Rafale fighters to Poland's Malbork Airbase as a "defensive posture". The jets have been replaced by four Mirage 2000.
According to Stars and Stripes, the Atlas Vision exercise with Russia (planned for July) was cancelled. The Rapid Trident exercise in western Ukraine, scheduled for the same time, was to proceed as planned, as was the naval exercise Sea Breeze.
France suspended most military cooperation with Russia and considered halting the sale of two Mistral-class warships it had been contracted to build.
Canada, the UK,
and Norway
all suspended cooperation to some extent. On 1 April, NATO suspended all military and civilian cooperation with Russia.[529] Russian diplomatic access to NATO headquarters was restricted.
On 8 May, Russia conducted a large-scale military drill
simulating US/NATO nuclear attacks. Analysts considered it to be
politically motivated to compete with NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called for more cooperation with Russia in the fight against terrorism following a deadly attack on the headquarters of a French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.
Military actions in other countries
Belarus
In March 2014 Ukraine reported that Russian units in Belarus
were participating in Russia's military exercises near the Ukrainian
border and expressed concern about this being a direct threat to
Ukraine.
Turkey
On 7 March 2014, the Turkish Air Force reported it scrambled six F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along Turkey's Black Sea coast.
It was the second incident of its kind reported that week, with one
occurring the day before on 6 March. The Russian plane remained in international airspace.
Diplomatic sources revealed that Turkey has warned Russia that if it
attacks Ukraine and its Crimean Tatar population, it would blockade
Russian ships' passage to the Black Sea.
International diplomatic and economic responses
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Ukrainian members of parliament, 4 March 2014
Several members of the international community
have expressed grave concerns over the Russian intervention in Ukraine
and criticized Russia for its actions in post-revolutionary Ukraine,
including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey, Australia and the European Union as a whole, which condemned Russia, accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian sovereignty. Many of these countries implemented economic sanctions against Russia or Russian individuals or companies, to which Russia responded in kind. Amnesty International has expressed its belief that Russia is fuelling the conflict.
The UN Security Council held a special meeting at the weekend on the crisis. The G7 countries condemned the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty, and urged Russia to withdraw.
All G7 leaders are refusing to participate in it due to assumed
violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in
contravention of Russia's obligations under the UN Charter and its 1997
basing agreement with Ukraine.
In 2014, OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly published a statement (the "Baku Declaration")
discussing the events in Ukraine in detail. Specifically, it pointed out
that Russia is a signatory of the Helsinki Accords
and committed to observing its rules, including respecting the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of other member countries, as well
as the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
that specifically guaranteed the integrity of Ukraine's borders. As
noted by OSCE, "Russian Federation has, since February 2014, violated
every one of the ten Helsinki principles in its relations with Ukraine,
some in a clear, gross and thus far uncorrected manner, and is in
violation with the commitments it undertook in the Budapest Memorandum,
as well as other international obligations". OSCE condemned actions of
the Russian Federation, calling them "coercion" and "military
aggression" that are "designed to subordinate the rights inherent in
Ukraine's sovereignty to the Russian Federation's own interests".
In 2016 OSCE deputy mission head in Ukraine Alexander Hug summarized
the mission's two years of observations stating that "since the
beginning of the conflict" the mission has seen "armed people with
Russian insignia", vehicle tracks crossing border between Russia and
Ukraine as well as talked to prisoners who were declaring themselves
Russian soldiers.
In January 2015, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) accepted a resolution that noted "the direct involvement of the
Russian Federation in the emergence and worsening of the situation in
these parts of Ukraine" and called both sides to fully respect the terms
of Minsk Agreement.
In June 2015, OSCE PA repeated condemnation of "Russia's
aggression against Ukraine, including its illegal annexation and
occupation of Crimea" ("Helsinki Declaration"). On 28 August 2015 Poland's newly elected PresidentAndrzej Duda said in Berlin during talks with German President Joachim Gauck and ChancellorAngela Merkel
that Poland is already taking in large numbers of refugees from the
Ukraine conflict as part of the EU's refugee programme, and does not
intend to join in talks conducted since 2014 by France, Germany, Russia
and Ukraine.
The policy of strategic partnership between Kiev and Warsaw requires
further strengthening of military and technical cooperation, best exemplified by the Lithuanian–Polish–Ukrainian Brigade,
but the more immediate task, informed Poland's State secretary
Krzysztof Szczerski, is the Ukraine's constitutional reform leading to
broad decentralization of power, in which Poland's post-Soviet
experience is going to be used.
In September 2015 the United Nations Human Rights Office
estimated that 8000 casualties had resulted from the conflict, noting
that the violence has been "fuelled by the presence and continuing
influx of foreign fighters and sophisticated weapons and ammunition from
the Russian Federation".
Financial markets
The
intervention caused turbulence in financial markets. Many markets
around the world fell slightly due to the threat of instability.
The Swiss franc climbed to a 2-year high against the dollar and 1-year
high against the Euro. The Euro and the US dollar both rose, as did the
Australian dollar. The Russian stock market declined by more than 10 percent, whilst the Russian ruble hit all-time lows against the US dollar and the Euro.
The Russian central bank hiked interest rates and intervened in the
foreign exchange markets to the tune of $12 billion to try to stabilize
its currency. Prices for wheat and grain rose, with Ukraine being a major exporter of both crops. In early August 2014, the German DAX
was down by 6 percent for the year, and 11 percent since June, over
concerns Russia, Germany's 13th biggest trade partner, would retaliate
against sanctions.
Reactions to the Russian intervention in Donbass
Amnesty International
considers the war to be "an international armed conflict" and presented
independent satellite photos analysis proving involvement of regular
Russian army in the conflict. It accuses Ukrainian militia and
separatist forces for being responsible for war crimes and has called on
all parties, including Russia, to stop violations of the laws of war.
Amnesty has expressed its belief that Russia is fueling the conflict,
'both through direct interference and by supporting the separatists in
the East' and called on Russia to 'stop the steady flow of weapons and
other support to an insurgent force heavily implicated in gross human
rights violations.'
NATO – The Russian government's decision to send a truck convoy into Luhansk on 22 August without Ukrainian consent was condemned by NATO and several NATO member states, including the United States. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
called it "a blatant breach of Russia's international commitments" and
"a further violation of Ukraine's sovereignty by Russia".
European Union – Leaders warned that Russia faced harsher economic sanctions than the EU had previously imposed if it failed to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
In 2015 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE]
published a resolution that openly speaks about a "Russian aggression in
Ukraine".
Ukraine – Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Oleksandr Turchynov
said "It's a hybrid war that Russia has begun against Ukraine, a war
with the participation of the Russian security services and the army."
United States – US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power
commented on the invasion by noting that "At every step, Russia has
come before this council to say everything but the truth. It has
manipulated, obfuscated and outright lied. Russia has to stop lying and
has to stop fuelling this conflict." The United States government said it supported stiffer sanctions as well.
Nordic countries
– On 9 April 2015 a joint declaration by the ministers of defence of
Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden and the minister of foreign affairs
of Iceland (which does not have a ministry of defence) was brought by
the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
The declaration first asserts that the Russian aggression against
Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea is a violation of international law
and other international treaties and that the Nordic countries must
judge Russia not by the rhetoric of the Kremlin, but by the actions of
the country. After pointing out that Russia has increased its military
exercise and intelligence gathering activity in the Baltic and Northern
areas violating Nordic borders and jeopardizing civilian air traffic,
the declaration states the intention of the Nordic countries to face
this new situation with solidarity and increased cooperation. The Nordic
unity commitment is extended to include solidarity with the Baltic
countries and to a collaboration within NATO and EU to strengthen also
the unity within these entities and to maintain the cross-Atlantic link.
Street protests against the war in Ukraine have arisen in Russia itself. Notable protests first occurred in March
and large protests occurred in September when "tens of thousands"
protested the war in Ukraine with a peace march in downtown Moscow on
Sunday, 21 September 2014, "under heavy police supervision".
Critics of Vladimir Putin also express cautious criticism in the press and social media. Garry Kasparov, a consistent critic of Putin, whom he has called 'a revanchist KGB thug', has written on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shootdown and called for Western action.
An August 2014 survey by the Levada Center reported that only 13% of those Russians polled would support the Russian government in an open war with Ukraine.
Former Russian vice-minister of foreign affairs Giorgi Kunadze
said that if Western policy toward Russia had been tougher in 2008,
during the Russo-Georgian War, "there would be no Crimea nor Lugandon" (the latter was a reference to the LPR).
Pro-Russian supporters in Donetsk, 20 December 2014
Ukrainian public opinion
A poll of the Ukrainian public, excluding Russian-annexed Crimea, was taken by the International Republican Institute from 12–25 September 2014. 89% of those polled opposed 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. As broken down by region, 78% of those polled from Eastern Ukraine (including Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) opposed said intervention, along with 89% in Southern Ukraine, 93% in Central Ukraine, and 99% in Western Ukraine.
As broken down by native language, 79% of Russian speakers and 95% of
Ukrainian speakers opposed the intervention. 80% of those polled said
the country should remain a unitary country.
International reaction
In March 2014, Estonia's president Toomas Hendrik Ilves
said: "Justification of a military invasion by a fabricated need to
protect ethnic "compatriots" resuscitates the arguments used to annex Sudetenland in 1938." During the Group of 20 (G-20) summit of world leaders in Brisbane, Australia
in November 2014, an incident occurred during private meetings that
became quite public. At the private leaders' retreat, held the weekend
before the official opening of the summit, Canadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper told Russian PresidentVladimir Putin
"I guess I'll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you:
You need to get out of Ukraine." The incident occurred as Putin
approached Harper and a group of G-20 leaders and extended his hand
toward Harper. After the event was over, a "spokesman for the Russian
delegation said Putin's response was: 'That's impossible because we are
not there'."
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