Pro-Russian separatists withdraw tanks from the front line in the Luhansk region in October -- have they since returned, as some reports suggest?
Radio Free Europe: Flurry Of Claims Spells Trouble For What's Left Of Ukraine Cease-Fire Regime
Far from international front pages, the situation in eastern Ukraine is once again on the verge of open warfare.
While the situation around Donetsk, the capital of the Russian-backed fighters, has remained strained since the announcement of the newest cease-fire in September, with sporadic small-arms fire reported almost daily, it has deteriorated significantly in the last two weeks. In the first month of the cease-fire regime, both sides were reporting calm, even playing down attacks that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was reporting; but the Russian-backed separatists in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) are now reporting more and more Ukrainian attacks, often alleging use of heavy weaponry. Meanwhile the Ukrainian military is now reporting attacks numbering in the realm of what was last seen in August during a period of particularly intense fighting.
On November 9, the Ukrainian military claims, Russian-backed fighters conducted 52 attacks, with more reported the next day. By noon on November 11, a Ukrainian military spokesman announced that one soldier had been killed and five wounded over the previous 24 hours.
WNU Editor: Both sides are gearing up for a resumption of the war. And while they have moved some of their "heavy weapons" away from the front-lines .... snipers, fire-fights, IEDs, mortar attacks ..... all of them have been occurring on a regular basis. What is not helping the situation is the horrid economic situation that is now gripping much of the country, the deep unpopularity of Ukraine President Poroshenko and his government, the disunity among the rebel groups in the east, and ... more importantly .... the complete absence of any peace reconciliation talks among all sides.
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