Christopher J. Miller and Olena Goncharova have been writing in "The Kyiv Post' about the challenges facing Ukrainian troops this coming winter:
This winter could be long, cold and deadly for Ukraine’s fighting army.
One soldier in the 25th Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade at the Ukrainian military camp in Donetsk Oblast’s Debaltseve said that, when he enlisted, the government gave him one uniform, one pair of underwear, two pairs of socks and a used pair of combat boots that were a size too big.
“They told us this is supposed to last us two years,” the soldier said.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of soldiers in Debaltseve are unprepared for the harsh Ukrainian winter. Some of them only recently received coats warm enough for the chilly and wet autumn. While they might repel water, they have no insulation, which is needed to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures.
“Look at this,” says one soldier, pulling open his jacket to reveal its insides. “No fur, no insulation and no warmth.”
\With the winter months approaching, the need for warm clothing for Ukrainian soldiers is becoming more acute. Most of them will be staying in the war zone through the winter, and they have very little grounds for optimism.
It seems that everything is in short supply, even very basic things like hats. As it is, the troops mainly have thin cotton balaclavas and military style caps. They will need something much heavier in just a couple months’ time.
As for the camp, there are a few dozen large military tents with furnaces that burn through the night and can keep about two dozen men in close quarters warm. But most of the troops at the camp sleep in personal camping tents. Their sleeping bags are light and thin. They aren’t the sub-20- or sub-40 degree bags necessary to stay warm through the frigid winter nights.
Read the entire article here
Donetsk airport is under control of UA troops, all attacks were repelled - ATO press-center. Mil. units conducted add defense preparations
— NSDC of Ukraine (@NSDC_ua) October 3, 2014
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this report from RFE/RL's news desk on the death of a Red Cross worker in Donetsk:
A Red Cross worker has been killed in eastern Ukraine.
The worker died when a shell landed near the group's office in Donetsk, one of the main rebel-held cities in the east.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, (ICRC) identified the victim as Laurent DuPasquier, a 38-year-old Swiss national who had arrived in Ukraine just six weeks ago.
In a statement, Dominik Stillhart, the Geneva-based organization's director of operations, condemned the incident, saying "indiscriminate shelling of residential areas is unacceptable and violates international humanitarian law."
Government forces and the pro-Russian rebels blamed each other for the October 2 shelling.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin wondered whether the "terrorists have any idea of what humanity is all about when they shell the Donetsk office of the ICRC, whose only aim is to help people?"
Rebel leader Andrei Purgin said the Ukrainian government forces shelled Donetsk constantly and that the attack had come from one of their areas.
"The Red Cross worker was killed by a rocket from a multiple rocket launcher," he told the Reuters news agency.
The incident may further undermine an already shaky cease-fire that has been in force since September 5.
Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a single strike by tank fire on their armored personnel transporter on October 1.
That same day, at least 10 people were killed when shelling hit a school playground in Donetsk and a public transit minivan in a street nearby.
Meanwhile, a top U.S. official has accused Moscow of continuing to supply the rebels with weapons despite the cease-fire.
State Department Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland was speaking on October 2 at the U.S.-Central Europe Strategy Forum in Washington.
Nuland added, "there is not a military solution to this if the Russian Federation chooses to go in and flatten Ukraine, because the Russian military is always going to be larger."
Moscow denies sending troops or weapons to help the rebels.
(AP, Reuters, RFE/RL)
That concludes our live blogging for Thursday, October 2.
From the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, addressing Moscow: