Zannier: 'New weapons seem to appear all the time'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.de/zannier-new-weapons-seem-to-appear-all-the-time/a-18243395

The OSCE's Secretary General Lamberto Zannier told DW he's worried about arms in eastern Ukraine. He also emphasized his organization's role in any attempt to implement a ceasefire in the troubled region.

Zannier: 'New weapons seem to appear all the time'
08.02.2015
Interview: Roman Gocharenko

DW: You have more than 400 OSCE observers on the ground. Do you know who the Ukrainian army is fighting against?

Lamberto Zannier: We have people in Donetsk, we have people in Luhansk. We have lots of contacts - we even had some of our observers be caught and detained for protracted periods by some of these separatist groups. We have, unfortunately, become very familiar with this very diverse group of fighters in eastern Ukraine. Many of them tell us they come from Russia and they have their own interpretation of this fight. This makes this conflict increasingly complex.

What concerns us is that we see hostility result in armaments being destroyed, but new weapons seem to appear all the time. This never ends, unfortunately. We also see the heavy price that the civilian population is paying for this conflict. We have seen many cases of artillery systems placed in residential areas. This, of course, calls for fire from the other side that can cause a lot of collateral damage. My first point would be to ask everyone to move artillery systems and heavy military equipment out of inhabited areas.

What is the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border? How big are the holes in the border and what is going on there?

We have two teams of border monitors present 24 hours a day, seven days a week at two border-crossing points between Russia and Ukraine. However these are only two out of eight crossing points not controlled by the Ukrainian government. And the border is easily crossable, with no natural obstacles. Therefore monitoring the border would require a very intense operation with lots of people and technical means.

We have two drones, one of which recently had an accident. So our ability to monitor the border is really hampered. There have also been attempts to shoot down our drones. We have even recorded some of the separatists trying to shoot them down and we've experienced heavy jamming of the drones' control system.

[bemildred]

1. See, that's the point, both sides must be getting outside resupply by now.

They are blowing a lot of stuff up and killing a lot of people. It is a proxy war, and it will stop when the outside parties providing the re-supply decide to end it.

[jakeXT]

2. Kiev blew up an ammo depot/factory on Sunday

On Sunday night, a series of YouTube videos appear to show a large explosion in Donetsk, Ukraine (several can be watched here). However, it likely wasn’t a “tactical nuclear weapon,” as some social media users claimed, but just a big blast. Early reports say it was Ukrainian army artillery fire hitting an ammunition depot held by the rebel Donetsk People’s Republic.

Videos that were uploaded Feb. 8 show a massive explosion going off in the distance, with an orange-red fireball lighting up the night sky.

While many details remain unclear, preliminary reports say it was a an artillery attack on a weapons depot owned by the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic. According to Ukrainian news site TSN.ua, right-wing politician Dmitry Yarosh said the blast killed about “200 terrorists,” destroyed 20 Grad rockets, and blew up trucks filled with ammunition.

A deputy commander with the Donetsk People’s Republic told NahNews.ua that it was likely a missile that caused the blast, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of a factory explosion.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1243441-did-a-tactical-nuke-just-go-off-in-ukraine-big-explosion-rocks-donetsk/

[bemildred]

3. Artillery duels are like that, it's like WWI all over again. Big piles of blown up stuff all over.

We'd have trenches if the ground wasn't frozen or mud, if fact I'm sure we do have fortifications of all sorts by now.

[bemildred]

4. 1,500 Russian troops enter Ukraine as explosion hits chem plant in rebel-held city

DONETSK, Ukraine -- A powerful explosion rocked a chemical plant and set it on fire Monday outside the separatist stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Rebels said the plant was hit by government shelling.

No casualties or damage were immediately reported from the blast, which could be heard in downtown Donetsk. The city lies in the middle of Ukraine's industrial heartland and explosions like this have long been feared.

An armed conflict between Russia-backed separatists and Ukraine government forces has killed more than 5,300 people and displaced more than a million people in eastern Ukraine.

The rebel mouthpiece Donetsk News Agency said Monday the chemical plant to the west of the city was hit by a Ukrainian artillery shell but the fire was put out and it posed no danger.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/1-500-russian-troops-enter-ukraine-as-explosion-hits-chem-plant-in-rebel-held-city-1.2227069

[jakeXT]

5. " He did not provide any proof ".... sounds like cya /nt

[bemildred]

6. They all make shit up at the drop of a hat.

You might find this interesting:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-090215.html

[jakeXT]

7. Somebody probably knows

Obama also has withheld from the American people intelligence information that undercuts some of the more extreme claims that his administration has made. For instance, I’m told that he has detailed intelligence reporting on both the mysterious sniper attack that preceded the putsch nearly a year ago and the shoot-down of the Malaysia Airlines Flights 17 that deepened the crisis last summer. But he won’t release the findings.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11338157

[bemildred]

8. Yes, I saw Parry's piece.

I don't really have an opinion about the facts, but there is lots of "spooky" stuff going on, unexplained occurrences that nobody seems much interested in getting to the bottom of. And I totally believe the US "intelligence" community would do anything at all to protect themselves.

[bemildred]

9. Apparently they got their air force working:

http://en.apa.az/-_222837.html