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“Ukraine”
by Koenig's Eye View News Briefs
August 23rd, 2014

Chaos continues in eastern Ukraine. At least 17 civilians were killed when a convoy of refugees came under mortar and rocket fire southeast of Luhansk. Government and pro-Russia forces accused one another of launching the attack. Both sides have the same Russian-made Grad rockets that were used in the attack.

Since last week, the United Nations estimates that 22,000 people have fled fighting from the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. The conflict incurs 60 new casualties on average each day, with over 5,000 casualties and 2,000 fatalities since it erupted in mid-April.

Ukraine said its artillery destroyed most of an armored column of Russian personnel carriers last week that had crossed its border overnight from Russia. So far Moscow has not retaliated, dismissing the report as "fantasy."

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen later confirmed that a nighttime "incursion" into Ukraine had occurred. This marks the first direct military engagement between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

The momentum on the ground has swung in favor of Ukrainian forces, which have nearly encircled the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk and control the road linking the two cities. Heavy fighting continues with government forces engaged in street-to-street fighting in the center of Luhansk and shelling of the rebel headquarters in Donetsk.

Panic has reportedly set in among pro-Russia rebels. Some abandoned their positions in Luhansk to seek safe haven in Russia, while three senior rebel leaders were removed from their posts after sharp disagreements broke out over the deteriorating conditions.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, announced that his rebel forces are in the process of receiving some 150 armored vehicles, including 30 tanks, and 1,200 fighters, who he said had spent four months training in Russia.

After a standoff for over a week at the Ukrainian border, a Russian convoy of 280 trucks said to be carrying water, food and medicine for civilians crossed into Ukraine. Moscow released a statement saying that Russia had run out of patience.

The Russian trucks were not accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as had been planned.

The decision was also made without Kiev’s consent. Ukrainian state security chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko told journalists on Friday, "We consider this a direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine."

Ukraine had previously threatened to respond militarily if any Russian trucks crossed the border without its permission and without ICRC observers. It is not clear how Kiev will now respond.

If Ukrainian forces fire on the trucks, they could trigger an all-out invasion by the tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed just across the border.

If they allow the convoy through, they would be agreeing to a de facto ceasefire that could allow the rebels to regroup and be reinforced with fresh military supplies, especially if it turns out that the trucks are carrying more than just humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are scheduled to meet Aug. 26 in Belarus — the first time in two months — amid ongoing calls for a ceasefire.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13