A mistake in preparing an escape or intentional elimination — how to explain the death of more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen
On the night of July 29, Ukrainian armed formations attacked a pre-trial detention center in the village of Elenovka of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the DPR authorities, two missiles hit the barracks with prisoners of war. It could have been an unsuccessful attempt to organize a mass escape, experts say. In turn, Russian troops inflicted a number of strikes on enemy reserves in the Kiev and Chernihiv regions. And Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the title of Guards to another military unit — the 488th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 144th Division.
A blow to the prisoners
On the night of July 29, Ukrainian troops launched a strike from the American HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system at a pre-trial detention facility near the village of Elenovka, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Prisoners of war were kept in the building, including militants of the Azov formation (prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation).
As a result of the strike, 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 wounded, eight employees of the detention center were injured to varying degrees. The DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova clarified that two rockets hit the barracks. Subsequently, representatives of local authorities showed the wreckage of HIMARS found at the scene of the incident.
"This blatant provocation was committed with the aim of intimidating Ukrainian servicemen and preventing their surrender. The circumstances are being investigated," the Russian military department said.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin believes that there are two main versions of what happened.
Fragments of HIMARS rockets
Image source: Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
— HIMARS is a high—precision system that hits fixed coordinates, so it is impossible to say that the missiles flew somewhere by accident," the expert said. — Moreover, it is known that there are no serious military facilities nearby that would be worth striking. Based on this, we can say that the Ukrainians fired exactly where they hit.
Most likely, they wanted to organize a mass escape of prisoners of war in this way, Vladislav Shurygin believes.
— They could have tried to hit the security room with high—precision missiles, which would have allowed the prisoners to run away, - he believes. — Perhaps a special operation or a counter strike was being prepared in parallel, which would allow people to be transported to the other side of the front line. Such an exemption would allow Ukraine to formalize some kind of media victory. But it didn't work out. The rocket hit the sleeping quarters with prisoners of war, setting up a meat grinder there. It looks like a trivial mistake. They were most likely guided by intelligence data, but it failed.
The version that in this way the Ukrainian command destroyed the members of the national battalion "Azov", who began to testify to the Ukrainian elite, also has the right to life, the expert believes.
— However, it does not quite fit in with the subsequent reaction of the Ukrainian side, — said Vladislav Shurygin. — Those did not react in time with a prepared and profitable version of what happened. Instead, there was a three-hour silence when they didn't know what to say. Only after that Ukraine began to spin an unconvincing version that the Russians had hit the prisoners of war, it is unclear why and for what purposes.
Ukrainian nationalism in its current state does not spare even its own, the editor-in-chief of the research center for the Study of Integration problems "SONAR-2050" Semyon Uralov told Izvestia.
The consequences of the shelling of the detention center in Elenovka by the AFU
Image source: Photo: TASS/URA.RU/Taisiya Vorontsova
— Now is the period of Petliura, when armed people under the guise of patriots, under the slogans of the fight against Russia and Russians are engaged in terror, — the expert believes. — The peculiarity of the Petliura region is that these are armed gangs, which have nothing in common except more and more cruelty from lack of control. This is one of the archetypes that is often reproduced in this territory. Therefore, we must prepare for the fact that there will be more and more Petliurism, and they do not regret, in general, even their own.
Rear defeat
The Russian armed forces continue to strike at the military infrastructure of Ukraine.
— On July 28, the enemy's reserves in the Kiev and Chernihiv regions were hit by high-precision weapons of sea, air and ground-based. As a result of the strikes, the 30th mechanized brigade, which was preparing to be sent to Donbass at a training ground near the village of Lyutezh in the Kiev region, completely lost its combat capability," said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.
Also, after the strikes with high-precision weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade suffered critical losses, restoring combat capability in the Chernihiv region.
Operational-tactical, army aviation, missile troops and artillery hit the installation of the Tochka-U tactical missile system, the warehouse of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition of the 81st airmobile brigade of the VFU and 275 areas of concentration of troops during the day, the Defense Ministry reported.
The Su-35S fighter of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed the launcher of the Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile system in the area of Dergachy, Kharkiv region. Near the village of Razdolovka in the DPR, a Su-34 bomber destroyed a self-propelled firing installation of the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Valentin Kapustin
Image source: iz.ru
Russian air defenses shot down six unmanned aerial vehicles, 12 multiple rocket launchers over the settlements of Chernobayevka in the Kherson region and Gorskoye in the Luhansk People's Republic, as well as a Tochka-U ballistic missile at the Black Oskol in the Kharkiv region.
— Since the beginning of the special military operation, 260 aircraft, 145 helicopters, 1,631 unmanned aerial vehicles, 361 anti—aircraft missile systems, 4181 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 768 multiple rocket launchers, 3,213 field artillery and mortars, as well as 4,522 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed, - Igor listed Konashenkov.
On Friday, the 488th Motorized Rifle Simferopol Red Banner, Order of Suvorov regiment named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze received the honorary name of the Guards. The corresponding decree was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The document says that the name was given "for mass heroism and bravery, fortitude and courage shown by the regiment's personnel in combat operations to protect the Fatherland and state interests in armed conflicts."
Mined bridge
On July 29, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on new cases of the use of social infrastructure facilities by Ukrainian armed formations for military purposes.
— In Artemovsk of the Donetsk People's Republic, the militants of nationalist battalions in the building of the medical college equipped a strong point and an ammunition depot, the approaches to the educational institution are mined, — said the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev.
According to the general, in Berezovka, Odessa region, military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are stationed in the buildings of the higher vocational school of the National Polytechnic University and the Agrarian Lyceum, and artillery and armored vehicles are located in the adjacent territory.
Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Image source: iz.ru
In Slavyansk, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial Defense are deployed in the buildings of the College of transport infrastructure on Gagarin Street, roadblocks and firing points are deployed on the approaches to the educational institution, and residents of nearby houses are forcibly detained in the premises under the pretext of allegedly ensuring security.
In addition, militants of Ukrainian armed formations in Novopavlovka, Dnipropetrovsk region, mined a road bridge over the Saline River, which they plan to blow up and accuse units of the Armed Forces of Russia and the DPR of allegedly indiscriminate strikes on transport infrastructure facilities, Lieutenant General Mikhail Mizintsev added.
Rapier strikes
On July 29, the Ministry of Defense told about the soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Russia and the 1st Army Corps of the People's Militia of the LPR, who showed courage and dedication during the special operation.
The battalion-tactical group of Senior Sergeant Sergei Korolevich was liberating a settlement from Ukrainian nationalists when Sergei discovered a group of armed militants preparing an ambush. The sergeant decided to suddenly attack the radicals, as a result, the crew of his tank managed to destroy the multiple rocket launcher system and up to 20 nationalists.
Photo: TASS/EPA/ALESSANDRO GUERRA
Image source: iz.ru
"The bold and decisive actions of Senior Sergeant Sergei Korolevich, as well as the skilful command of the tank crew in battle allowed the movement of troops to continue safely," the Defense Ministry said.
The acting commander of the anti-tank artillery battery of the Guards Motorized Rifle Slavic Brigade of the 1st Army Corps of the People's Militia of the DPR Guards, Lieutenant Dmitry Kolesnichenko, hails from Donbass. In 2014, he volunteered for the People's Militia of the DPR and has been on the front line since the first days of his military service.
In a few days, Dmitry's subordinates destroyed four strongholds and knocked out more than a dozen units of Ukrainian military equipment. The gunners of the DPR, acting from closed positions, hit the enemy's heavy equipment with blows of 100-millimeter anti-tank guns "Rapira", and also open platoon and company strongpoints of the VFU.
The commander of the gun of the anti-tank artillery battery of the separate Guards motorized rifle Slavic brigade of the 1st Army Corps of the People's Militia of the DPR Guard, Junior Sergeant Anton Chernov, has been serving in the ranks of the People's Militia of the DPR for four years. He started his service as a gunner, and now he has become the commander of an anti-tank gun. On the account of the calculation of the guard of junior Sergeant Chernov, four Ukrainian tanks destroyed by direct fire.
The deputy commander of the engineering and sapper platoon of the 1st Corps of the People's Militia of the DPR, Sergeant Eduard Borodin, used to work as a home appliance repairman. He started his service in the communications division, and then underwent retraining and became a sapper.
During a special military operation, Sergeant Borodin's unit was surrounded. Edward, showing restraint and courage, led his comrades out of the "cauldron", thereby saving their lives.
Anton Lavrov
Andrey Fedorov
