Ukrainian servicemen ride in a tank close to the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk, a facility which has been the site of intense fighting for several weeks.
On the 11th of June, 10 main battle tanks can be seen at the site. 3 of these are parked, 4 are in the training area, and 3 are loaded heavy equipment transport trucks that are normally used to move tanks, likely indicating imminent movement by road.
On the 12th of June, Ukrainian officials report that 3 main battle tanks and several armoured vehicles crossed the border at the Dovzhanskyy border crossing, which was under the control of pro-Russian elements of the so-called "People’s Republic of Luhansk.” Sightings of these tanks were later reported in open sources in Snizhne and then Makiivka, near Donetsk. The tanks do not bear markings or camouflage paint like those used by the Ukrainian military. In fact, they do not have markings at all, which is reminiscent of tactics used by Russian elements that were involved in destabilising Crimea.
NATO said the images showed Russian tanks arrived at a staging area close to the Ukraineborder days before similar tanks appeared this week in areas of eastern Ukraine under separatist control, but where they came from is in dispute.
15:4314.6.2014
15:3514.6.2014
Reuters images of the wreckage of the IL-76 Ukrainian army transport plane shot down over Luhansk, killing scores of troops. The men in the photos are identified as rebels. Seems to say a lot about Luhansk that Ukrainian authorities retrieved the bodies then left, allowing separatist gunmen to salvage ammunition and weapons from the scene.
15:2714.6.2014
15:2614.6.2014
15:1514.6.2014
15:1514.6.2014
15:1114.6.2014
The commander of Ukraine's "Donbas" battalion, a volunteer militia group formed to fight Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, says the death of 49 servicemen in Luhansk will not go unanswered.
Writing on Facebook, Semyon Semenchenko added, according to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, "We won't forget. We won't forgive. Heroes don't die."
Semenchenko went on to blame Ukrainian military leaders for today's early-morning attack, in which pro-Russian separatists from the Luhansk People's Republic used portable rocket launchers to shoot down the plane as it passed over Luhansk. Everyone on board was killed; the burned-out hull of the plane remains surrounded by armed separatists.
"Indirect responsibility for the death of 49 paratroopers is held by the leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They could not have been unaware that terrorists armed with tanks and an open border would also have MANPADS" -- portable rocket launchers -- "at their disposal. Where was military intelligence looking? Do we even have military intelligence? Where's the analysis of the situation, where's the risk assessment, and who's next?"
15:0914.6.2014
Residents tell some hungover guy passed out in their frontyard who appears to have lost his pistol to scram and get back to "liberating Donbas" from the "fascists."
