Pro-Russian rebels and government troops clashed at Donetsk airport on Thursday, over a month after the Ukrainian army won the area back in a ferocious battle in May.
The engagement came as rebel troops launched what they described as a “reconnaissance attack” on the airport, using artillery pieces and small arms to engage the government garrison in the north of the city.
As the afternoon wore on rebels and city police closed off streets in the north of the city, while militia men took up defensive positions on street corners and in courtyards and scrubland in the surrounding suburbs.
At least two answering shells from the Ukrainians crashed into the area, though it was not clear whether they hit their targets.
Rebel militamen used heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft ordnance to set up fall-back positions near the airport in readiness for a potential Ukrainian counter-attack, though none materialised by nightfall.
The probing attack on the airport came as Ukrainian troops tightened their grip on the area surrounding Donetsk.
On Wednesday, a battalion sized column including battle tanks, rocket launchers and armoured vehicles moved to within 15 kilometres of the southern city limits of Donetsk.
Little more than ten miles now separates Ukrainian and rebel forces on the southern side of the city.
But there is still little sign of the blockade of the city threatened by UYkrainian forces. Traffic flowed freely through both rebel and government checkpoints on the highway south of the city on Friday afternoon.
“Every third car has kids in the back and lots of luggage. People see to be leaving,” said the Ukrainian army captain in command of a new checkpoint established south of the city.
Meanwhile, to the north, Ukrainian forces continued to consolidate their positions around the former rebel strong hold of Slavyansk, which fell to government forces on Saturday.
Rebel leaders said they would evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from the area and switch the city to a total war footing.
In his first public appearence, Igor Strelkov, the rebel’s top military commander, claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the airport garrison, but said the operation did not aim to capture it.
Mr Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Girkin, is one of the most controversial figures in the current uprising.
A Russian citizen and a native of Moscow, the Ukrainian government believes Mr Strelkov is an agent of the GRU, the Kremlin’s military intelligence agency.
He revealed during a press conference on Thursday that he had been a colonel in the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main successor agency to the KGB. The FSB is separate to the GRU.
He also fought in both of Russia’s Chechen wars, as well as in the 1991-1992 Transdnistria and on the Serbian side during the Bosnian war.
While he defended his decision to abandon Slavyansk on Saturday, he insisted he would not order a similar retreat from Donetsk.
"Militarily, the reason for withdrawal of the garrison from Slavyansk was obvious. My conscience is absolutely clear," he said. "More than 90 percent of the force got out of Slavyansk and safely got to Donetsk."
Asked whether he would consider abandoning the region capital, he said simply “no.”
Roland Oliphant, Donetsk
Pro-Russian rebels and government troops clashed at Donetsk airport on Thursday, over a month after the Ukrainian army won the area back in a ferocious battle in May.
The engagement came as rebel troops launched what they described as a “reconnaissance attack” on the airport, using artillery pieces and small arms to engage the government garrison in the north of the city.
As the afternoon wore on rebels and city police closed off streets in the north of the city, while militia men took up defensive positions on street corners and in courtyards and scrubland in the surrounding suburbs.
At least two answering shells from the Ukrainians crashed into the area, though it was not clear whether they hit their targets.
Rebel militamen used heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft ordnance to set up fall-back positions near the airport in readiness for a potential Ukrainian counter-attack, though none materialised by nightfall.
The probing attack on the airport came as Ukrainian troops tightened their grip on the area surrounding Donetsk.
On Wednesday, a battalion sized column including battle tanks, rocket launchers and armoured vehicles moved to within 15 kilometres of the southern city limits of Donetsk.
Little more than ten miles now separates Ukrainian and rebel forces on the southern side of the city.
But there is still little sign of the blockade of the city threatened by UYkrainian forces. Traffic flowed freely through both rebel and government checkpoints on the highway south of the city on Friday afternoon.
“Every third car has kids in the back and lots of luggage. People see to be leaving,” said the Ukrainian army captain in command of a new checkpoint established south of the city.
Meanwhile, to the north, Ukrainian forces continued to consolidate their positions around the former rebel strong hold of Slavyansk, which fell to government forces on Saturday.
Rebel leaders said they would evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from the area and switch the city to a total war footing.
In his first public appearence, Igor Strelkov, the rebel’s top military commander, claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on the airport garrison, but said the operation did not aim to capture it.
Mr Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Girkin, is one of the most controversial figures in the current uprising.
A Russian citizen and a native of Moscow, the Ukrainian government believes Mr Strelkov is an agent of the GRU, the Kremlin’s military intelligence agency.
He revealed during a press conference on Thursday that he had been a colonel in the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main successor agency to the KGB. The FSB is separate to the GRU.
He also fought in both of Russia’s Chechen wars, as well as in the 1991-1992 Transdnistria and on the Serbian side during the Bosnian war.
While he defended his decision to abandon Slavyansk on Saturday, he insisted he would not order a similar retreat from Donetsk.
"Militarily, the reason for withdrawal of the garrison from Slavyansk was obvious. My conscience is absolutely clear," he said. "More than 90 percent of the force got out of Slavyansk and safely got to Donetsk."
Asked whether he would consider abandoning the region capital, he said simply “no.”
Roland Oliphant, Donetsk
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