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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A week after the fighting in Marinka concluded, exchanges of heavy gunfire continue in Marinka, Donetsk city and other regions of Donetsk, according to Russian language news accounts.
Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the Donetsk ministry of defense said that an Ukrainian armed group consisting of light infantry and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles launched an attack on a key height between Shumy and Mayorska near Gorlovka, which is about 20 kilometers north of Donetsk city, this after an hour long artillery attack Monday afternoon.
Basurin said that the Ukrainian forces lost two BMP-2s and 13 killed in action after a 90 minute battle. Ultimately, the attack failed.
Gorlovka has been under Ukrainian artillery fire since early February, since, according to the Ukrainians, rebel forces attempted to take the highway leading to western Gorlovka.
Gorlovka was shelled Tuesday by Ukrainian artillery, according to a subsequent statement by Basurin. Basurin suggested that the attack was in preparation for a general offensive by Ukrainian military forces.
Areas in or near Gorlovka affected by the shelling included the village of Komarovo, and the Komsomolets residential sector near Basardina and Shashurin streets. Two civilians were wounded in the artillery fire and five homes were destroyed, according to Basurin.
Marinka
Rebel and Ukrainian forces continue direct fire and artillery fire on their respective positions in Markinka Tuesday.
According to a news account in regum.ru, Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman Colonel Andrei Lysenko said that fighting began in Marinka at around 0900 hours as rebel forces fired on Ukrainian positions.
Commander of the Ukrainian Kiev-1 volunteer battalion, Yevgeny Dade was quoted, saying that fighting between forces is "point blank" with the rebels using tanks and mortars, which confirms what rebel commanders have been saying since last week. The ranges in the battle are about 200 meters between positions, point blank by modern standards.
According to military journalist Dmitri Tymchuk, the offensive in Marinka was ordered by Donetsk president Aleksandr Zakharchenko after he and his staff were alerted that a Russian Army general was ordered to Donetsk city to affect the arrest of Zakharchenko for embezzlement of Russian-provided aid.
According to Tymchuk, the general was identified with the call sign "Berkut" with "the last name of Sokolovskiy or Sokolov." Following the meeting, Zakharcheko ordered the attack as a means of redeeming himself with the Russians.
The report, if true, shows an amazing amount of conflict between rebel leaders and their Russian benefactors, and how independent rebel leaders have been from the Russians supplying them.
In a separate report, Tymchuk made a startling admission of just how closely Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko controls military operations against rebel controlled areas of southeastern Ukraine, when he said that changes in how the Ukrainian forces are fighting includes being allowed to use all the artillery available to them, and how quickly artillery counterfire can now be ordered.
Tymchuk's latest report is that rebel are using small arms, automatic grenade launcher and RPG (antitank rocket launcher) fire on Ukrainian positions.
Tymchuk said that the rebels' original plan for Marinka, was to seize the Kurakhovskaya thermal power station, using two reinforced mechanized rifle battalions and a tank group. Some of these forces had been moved up during the Victory Day celebrations.
Current Ukrainian reports are admitting as of Tuesday night for the first time that rebels control at least some parts of Marinka.
Donetsk city
In Donetsk city, according to official rebel reports, Ukrainian artillery hit targets Monday in Kuibyshevskiy region of the city, around Kremlin Prospekt, and Artemovskaya, Czechoslovakia and Kurchatov streets. Ukrainian artillery also hit Putilovsky bridge. The report said Ukrainian used 120mm mortar and 152mm artillery fire. As to damage, the report said a warehouse with "paints and varnish" was set afire.
A report from regunum.ru said a total of eight residences were damaged as well as the railway station.
Ukrainian artillery also hit targets in the Leninsky, Kievskiy and Patrovskiy district. Spartak was also struck with artillery.
Ukrainian reports are that rebel artillery hit targets in Peski, Opytnoye and at the Butovka mine, using 120mm mortar fire and 122mm tube artillery fire.
Tymchuk said that rebel artillery in the form of 82mm mortar fire and 122mm artillery fire hit targets in Avdievka as well on Tuesday.
Pro Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin said Tuesday that fighting has intensified in the airport region including artillery fire in conjunction with the renewed artillery fire. Since last February, Ukrainian troops have been clinging on to a small part of the airport grounds. Few reports emerged since that time of any fighting other than small arms exchanges until Tuesday.
President Poroshenko has pledged in the recent past to retake the airport from the rebels. The airport fell to the rebels in February.
Shirokino
Fighting continued Monday in Shirokino, near the Sea of Azov, as Ukrainian Russian language reports say artillery fire between rebel forces operating in the eastern end of the village and members of the Ukrainian Azov battalion on the western side, hit respective targets.
According to Ukrainian reports, Ukrainian artillery fire struck an ammunition depot and rebel troops in Shirokino. The same report said that rebels used 82mm mortars and automatic grenade launchers in their attacks.
Tymchuk said that the rebels used 120mm mortar fire on Ukrainian targets on Tuesday.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.