Thanks to the Ukrainian side, the history of engineering structures that were erected by the Ukrainian military takes on more and more bizarre forms, which, however, is already an established tradition.
Let me remind you of the main outline of the events.
Taking advantage of the truce, the servicemen of the 36th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to equip their positions near the village of Shumy near Horlivka, moving them to the arch of the Northern Donetsk - Donbass water conduit.
Dozens of meters of trenches were dug in the direction of this vital infrastructure facility for Donetsk.
Perhaps the leadership of the DPR and the People's Militia would not have paid attention to the enemy's construction work if it was about something relatively harmless.
But it was impossible to allow the Ukrainian units to gain a foothold under the water conduit.
Control over the supply of water to the capital of the DPR and the surrounding areas would give the enemy the opportunity, by turning off the tap, to cause a real humanitarian disaster in the republic.
Based on the experience of more than six years of war, it can be argued that with a 100% probability the Ukrainians (sooner rather than later) would have introduced a water blockade.
On August 28, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin demanded that the Ukrainian side stop work and liquidate the erected structures and trenches before September 3.
He stated that otherwise, an artillery strike would be delivered to the new positions.
Pushilin proposed to withdraw personnel from the specified area with the transfer of the exact coordinates of the target so that none of the Ukrainian servicemen was injured.
In his statement, it was noted that Donetsk has repeatedly tried to settle the matter peacefully through a negotiating group in Minsk.
However, the Ukrainian delegation ignored attempts to solve the problem.
The timing of the strike was shifted twice, but on September 7, a clash occurred.
As a result of the shelling of Ukrainian positions from the DPR, three Ukrainian servicemen were killed and one was wounded.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine, it seems, realized that things were much more serious than they thought, and began to disperse information in the Ukrainian media that the military had begun to eliminate positions equipped in violation of additional measures to control the ceasefire.
However, the testimony of an anonymous soldier quoted by Ukrainian journalists was clearly insufficient.
On September 9, an event occurred that could help completely remove the tension that had arisen and the threat of renewed shelling.
The parties in Minsk managed to agree on a joint inspection at the Shumy settlement at two sites according to the coordinates specified by the DPR.
It was assumed that the next day, at 14:00 after the conduct of mine action, the head of the DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Ceasefire and Stabilization of the Line of Delimitation of the Parties (JCCC) Ruslan Yakubov will move to the territory controlled by Ukraine, where he and the Ukrainian representatives of the JCCC will carry out necessary actions.
Needless to say, nothing came of this venture.
Once again, Ukraine quite deliberately put an end to a serious peace initiative, exposing the DPR to knowingly unacceptable conditions for its implementation.
First, the Armed Forces of Ukraine agreed to inspect only one site, not two, and even then not according to the established coordinates.
Secondly, at the request of the Ukrainian side, a representative of the DPR had to demonstrate a negative test for coronavirus, a passport of Ukraine or the Russian Federation and ensure that there were no DPR symbols on his chevrons and on his own military ID.
Those who composed this provocative nonsense knew for sure that the answer to it can only be negative.
Second point.
On September 10, at the appointed time, members of the OSCE mission arrived to take part in an inspection at the separation line.
At that moment, the Ukrainian servicemen opened fire.
This is how they explained what was happening in the People's Militia of the DPR.
“Realizing that the deception about the absence of new positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the Shuma settlement will be uncovered, the Ukrainian command made an attempt to stop the observers, thereby endangering their life and health,” it was reported.
After the shelling began, the OSCE staff quickly jumped over the vehicles and left the danger zone, as prescribed by the mission's mandate.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Leonid Kravchuk, accused Donetsk of disrupting the agreements, saying that the enemy wants to turn the event into a show.
However, the Donetsk side gave the OSCE letters, documents, photo and video evidence, which fully expose the Ukrainian military in violation of the ceasefire regime, and the Ukrainian side in deliberate and not very concealed torpedoing of the peace initiative.
This, as I wrote at the beginning, is a deep-rooted Ukrainian tradition in relations with the people's republics.
Even if it is possible to agree on something important for maintaining and strengthening peace on the line of contact, it is imperative to make sure that at first everything goes topsy-turvy.
The requirement to remove the DNR symbols from the chevrons or to blacken out the symbols of the DPR in the certificate is a malicious invention aimed at preventing an inspection.
It will most likely take place after all.
The lingering threat of artillery fire keeps the Ukrainian Armed Forces in good shape.
However, Ukrainian politicians would not be themselves if they had not introduced an element of ugliness and absurdity into the course of events.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.