By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Implementation of the new September 19th ceasefire by both sides in southeastern Ukraina continues, albeit slowly, interspersed with artillery fire from both sides, according to Russian, Ukrainian and English language news accounts.
The area of Schaste, which is on the Donetsk River northwest of Lugansk, continues to see firefights between the two combatants. Pro Russian media have said that that area will be a likely jumping off point for future Ukrainian combat offensives.
According to a news report posted on the website of Voice of Sevastopol, in Donetsk last Friday on the day the new truce was signed, a total of 12 tons of military grade high explosives maintained by the pro Russian militia was detonated in a ballistic missile attack launched by Ukrainian artillery units.
Some militia reports say that delivery of humanitarian supplies was affected by the strike, but subsequent militia reports say the needed supplies were delivered and distributed without problems.
Last weekend artillery strikes from Ukrainian artillery units were recorded in several spots in northern Donetsk including the villages of Gornyak and Petrovka and in the Kirovsky, Kuibyshevsky and Kievsky districts of Donetsk.
That day Ukrainian military units were observed leaving the northern Donetsk towns of Zhdanovka and Makeevka.
Saturday morning it was reported in Voice of Sevastopol by the militias that Ukrainian units were leaving the town of Yenakievo and surrounding settlements of Yuzhnokommunarsk, Verkhnyaya and Nizhnyaya Krinka, Rozovka and Uglegorsk, and the town of Zhdanovka.
It was also reported that elements of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Battalion Chernigov-2 attempted to destroy the entrance to a mine in Zhdanovka, but that pro Russian militias managed to prevent the detonation.
In and around Mariupol, artillery fire was exchanged between the combatants including near the town of Stary Krim and in two locations near Mariupol, Vostochny and Mirny. Militia reports say some of the artillery fire came from from Bezimyannoye, which is presumably to the northwest of Mariupol.
Ukrainian media said Saturday that pro Russian militia continue to fire on Ukrainian military units deployed between Mariupol and Donetsk. Saturday Ukrainian official media said that a group of militia fighters was destroyed. The unit was said to be carrying 12.7mm (.50 caliber) rifles.
Sporadic artillery fire was recorded in Donetsk city in Petrovsky district on Mamin-Sibiryak street, where a residence was destroyed by artillery fire.
For their part Ukrainian official media say that any artillery fire from their forces is counterbattery fire intended to suppress artillery fire on their own units.
Ukrainian media continues to cover the story of a Russian paratrooper unit which was destroyed by artillery fire inside Ukraina last August 15th. Current western and pro Ukrainian news reports name at least one wounded Russian soldier who presumably had been evacuated following the attack.
One local Russian media outlet in Pskov said that it had the names of around 26 unnamed soldiers who perished in that incident, but the report failed to note the location of any graves of the soldiers who died.
A total of 80 Russian paratroopers died in the strike.
The soldiers who were killed last August were said to be part of the Russian 76th "Pskov" Airborne Division, one of the eight active duty airborne divisions in the Russian Army. Ukrainian and pro western media say that all 80 of the victims were interred secretly in sites throughout Russia.
Pro Russian media continue to point out that there were no reports of survivors of the artillery strike, no wounded and no prisoners, and contend that none of the victim's graves were found near Pskov, the recruiting area of the division. Ukrainian media has failed to provide documentary evidence of the identities of the dead soldiers.
Russia has so far denied the incident took place, and continues to deny Russian forces have entered the war.
A report by Ukrainian official media said that Russian helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were observed near but not over the Ukrainian border.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com