Ukraine employs U.S. combat tactics against civilians, rebel reports

Moscow, February 3 (PL) – The deputy minister of parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Denis Pushilin, reported here today that Ukrainian troops used U.S.-style combat tactics against civilians in Donbass.

Pushilin said in an interview with Prensa Latina that in the cities of Debaltsevo and Uglegorsk, the epicenter of bloody clashes, Kiev’s troops applied the methods used by the U.S. military in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

They unload heavy artillery against the population from afar until they know that the area is destroyed, and then send in soldiers to kill those who remain alive and clean out the city, he said. 

It is a nightmarish picture of heavy artillery attacks on our cities from a distance, with the intent to avoid casualties among their own forces, he reiterated.

He said that for this reason and for the protection of civilians, the leaders of the DNR and neighboring Lugansk urged an immediate withdrawal of heavy weapons to the containment area, which would also lead to an easing of the conflict. 

As to new evidence of the presence of weapons of the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) among Ukrainian military ordnance, Pushilin confirmed that on several occasions the militia captured sniper rifles and ammunition of American manufacture. 

The evidence, according to the rebel leader, was photographed and given to the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the conflict in the Donetsk region. 

The observers, in turn, recorded the information, but did not take further steps in line with the ceasefire protocols, he said.

He cited as the most recent incident, larger-caliber ammunition found in Gorlovka, north of the regional capital, with inscriptions of NATO, whose presence but has been denied by the commander of the bloc, although the Secretary-General himself admitted that there was “a private initiative of some allied countries,” reported Pushilin.

Immediately afterwards, he noted that U.S. President Barack Obama did not exclude any options it what might be supplied. 

It is an issue that concerns us because it will not contribute to a peaceful settlement of the conflict, but instead aggravates it, in an attempt to resolve the crisis by military means and by force with the use of high-precision weapons, warned Pushilin, who also represents the DNR in negotiations in Minsk. 

Pushilin did not rule out that along with equipment and weapons, the United States would send experts to train the Ukrainian military, which would be more open and direct interference in the conflict taking place in the territory of Ukraine, he said. 

The Donetsk representative insisted that an alternative to military methods must be found to prevent more deaths of innocent civilians. 

The number of casualties is about 7,000 dead on our side since the beginning of the conflict, and of those, the victims are between 80 and 90 percent civilians and the rest militia, he said.