3 Ukrainian soldiers killed, civilian infrastructure destroyed in Donbas last week

Between November 7 and 13, the Joint Forces Operation in eastern Ukraine reported that Russian-backed forces committed 54 ceasefire violations, 14 of which included weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Unfortunately, 3 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, and 5 injured, as a result of the occupation forces’ aggression.

On November 7, occupation troops fired at a settlement near the demarcation line (the village of Bolotene, Stanichno-Luhansk district), destroying a civilian business building, residential building, and power line. The following day, Russian-backed forces opened fire on the village of Svitlychne, damaging the building and equipment of the water supply system as well as destroying a chemical and bacteriological laboratory. On November 11, occupation forces fired at the Novozvanivka settlement in the Luhansk region, destroying residential buildings and households. Ukrainian forces successfully evacuated civilians and there were thankfully no fatalities or injuries.

UkrOboronProm – Ukraine’s defense conglomerate – announced on November 11 that it had signed a cooperation agreement with the US Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). According to the statement, part of the agreements is that IDA will help UkrOboronProm “implement standards of corporate governance, efficiency, sustainability, and transparency.”

Last week, Ukraine Crisis Media Center highlighted the recent Conflict Armament Research (CAR) report “Weapons of the war in Ukraine: A three-year investigation of weapon supplies into Donetsk and Luhansk.” UCMC emphasized that Russia is a main supplier of weapons to militants in Donbas: Russian factories manufactured the majority of the 4,793 rounds of ammunition and all but two of the 43 weapons documented by CAR in Ukraine between 2018 and 2020. Reports from the Institute for the Study of War echo these findings, showing that “separatists are actually an arm of the Russian Armed Forces,” says George Barros, researcher at the Institute.

Additionally, CAR also found that Russian military drones contained key EU-made technology, despite the 2014 EU arms embargo. CAR describes how independent Russian distributors acquire technology on behalf of sanctioned Russian defense and security entities. CAR also reported that at least five Ukrainian defense industry entities in Donbas have started exporting to Russia since 2014.