Publication

Deputy Director of the IWP Kateryna Zarembo for EUObserverIt is quite typical of Vladimir Putin to choose weekends and holidays for his nasty attacks on the European peace and security. Last Saturday his target was Mariupol, a city in South-Eastern Ukraine, where a series of missiles landed on residential quarters killing at least 30 civilians. Just two days earlier, a trolley bus with civilian passengers was shelled in Donetsk.\
Mariupol attack is one more instance of the new phase of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Starting from the bus blast near Volnovakha, civilians have become deliberate, rather than accidental targets. Indirect evidence suggests that both a trolley bus accident in Donetsk and Mariupol missile attack were carefully pre-planed. In Donetsk, a Lifenews TV crew appeared at the scene immediately after the tragedy, accompanied by special «actors» disguised as shop assistants of the local store. Russian blogger Andrey Shipilov on his FB page identifies one of the actors and provides evidence of her starring in other conflict-related roles on Russian TV (i.e. a victim of shelling in Volnovakha). As for Mariupol attack, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine confirmed that the impacts were caused by Grad and Uragan rockets coming from the territories controlled by the Donetsk People’s Republic. In total, over 50 civilians died and about 130 left injured as a result of the offensive in Volnovakha, Donetsk and Mariupol.

The aim of these attacks could be manifold. Apart from flexing its muscles and trying to leave Ukraine and its partners panic-stricken, this is Kremlin’s attempt to defame the Ukrainian combatants and undermine trust among Ukrainians, who are depicted as responsible for the tragedies by the terrorists.

Meanwhile, Russian officials did not issue any statements about the Mariupol attack. However, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website featured a statement about the discrimination of Russian-speaking population in Latvia. This is far from the first time Kremlin stresses its concern over the rights of ethnic Russians in the Baltics. Last year, when the EU was musing over whether to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine, Moscow made public its worries about the Russians in Estonia…

It is, of course, very “timely” of Chancellor Merkel to think about the economic measures that could appease Russia, like a free trade area from Lisbon to Vladivostok. It’s high time the West understood: Putin is not guided by the economic rationale. The annexation of the Crimea and the subsequent offensive in Donbas amid Russia’s crumbling economy proves exactly this. What he dreams of is the empire of which Ukraine would be the crown jewel. And he will not let this dream off easily.

The EU, do you still think you could be not part of this?

Infographics on Mariupol attack by Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre

{1}
{2}