1.
Ukraine
–
Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
2.
Ukrainian Ground Forces
–
The Ukrainian Ground Forces are the land force component of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They were formed from Soviet Ground Forces formations, units, and establishments, since Ukraines independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 Ukraine retained its Soviet-era army equipment and have not replaced nor upgraded it. Also the Armed Forces have been systematically downsized since 1991 and as a result it was dilapidated in July 2014. Since the start of the War in Donbass in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine Ukraine is upgrading its Armed Forces and its size of 129,950 in March 2014 had grown to 204,000 active personnel in May 2015. In 2016 75% of the army consisted of contract servicemen, prior to the October Revolution of 1917, three separate self-governing Ukrainian states existed on what is Ukraine today. Each of these states possessed armed forces, the largest of these, the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, itself comprised three separate regimes. The Ukrainian Peoples Army is an example of one of the national armed forces. Other armed independence movements existed in the wake of both the First World War and the Second World War, and these armies each had distinct organisation and uniforms. The Armed Forces of Ukraine included approximately 780,000 personnel,7,000 armored vehicles,6,500 tanks, however, the problem that Ukraine face was that while it had vast armed forces, it lacked a proper command structure. Following the declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, Ukraine inherited the 1st Guards Army, 13th Army, 38th Army, two tank armies, and the 32nd Army Corps at Simferopol. In addition, the 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 180th MRD were left in Ukraine, the post of commander of ground troops was designated in early 1992. By the end of 1992, the Kiev Military District disbanded, and Ukraine used its structures as the basis for the Ministry of Defence, between June and August 1993, the first redesignation of armies to army corps appears to have taken place. While the chief of ground forces post had been created in early 1992, the legal framework for the Ground Forces was defined in Article 4 of the law On the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At that time, the Ground Forces had no separate command body, the creation of the Ground Forces as a separate armed service was legally only put in train by Presidential Decree 368/96 of 23 May 1996, On the Ground Forces of Ukraine. That year both the Ground Forces Command was formed and the 1st Army Corps was reorganised as the Northern Territorial Operational Command, in 1997 the Carpathian Military District was reorganised as the Western Operational Command. From 1992 to 1997, the forces of the Kiev MD were transferred to the Odessa MD, a new 2nd Army Corps was formed in the Odessa MD. Armies were converted to army corps, and motor rifle divisions converted into mechanised divisions or brigades, pairs of attack helicopter regiments were combined to form army aviation brigades. Even though the Armed Forces received little more than half of the Hr 68 million it was promised for reform in 2001, officials were able to disband nine regiments, in 2005–06, the Northern Operational Command was reorganised as Territorial Directorate North
3.
Melitopol
–
Melitopol is a city in Zaporizhia Oblast of the southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Liman. Melitopol is incorporated as a city of oblast significance and is the second largest city in the oblast after Zaporizhia and it serves as the administrative center of Melitopol Raion, though it does not belong to the raion. The electrified railway line of international importance goes through Melitopol, 80% of passenger train lines go through toward their destination of Crimean cities. Melitopol is also called the gateway to the Crimea, because in the time the road traffic in the city reaches 45,000 vehicles per day, heading for the coast of Sea of Azov. In medieval times, there was a small Noghai aul of Kyzyl-Yar where the modern Melitopol is settled, in July 1769, Russian military commanders built a redoubt there, and Zaporizhia Cossacks carried out their duty service there. On February 2,1784, Ekaterina II issued the decree to create the Taurian Province on the lands that had been won, in 1816, the settlement got the name sloboda of Novoalexandrovka. Its population was increasing due to the importation of peasants from the provinces of Ukraine. On January 7,1842, the sloboda was recognized as a town, at the end of the 19th century, the Honey-city had been developed as a trade center - there were some banks, credit organizations and wholesale stores. The largest enterprises in the city at the time were the iron foundry and the Brothers Klassens machinery construction factory, the railroad depot, further development of the city was closely connected with trade, iron and engineering industries, and Crimean direction railway service. In the early twentieth century there were 15 thousand people living in Melitopol,30 industrial and 350 retail outlets operated in the city at that time. In the second half of the century there was a strong economic growth of the city, new factories, plants. 16 Melitopol business enterprises have received the All-Soviet Union significance status, industrial enterprise production was exported to more than 50 countries worldwide. In 1941, the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany, the city became strategically important due to its location. The Red Army was not ready for the war and had to retreat, the German Wehrmacht occupied Melitopol on October 6,1941. Within one week the entire remaining Jewish population of Melitopol were murdered by Einsatzgruppe D actively supported by the Wehrmacht, here, in the basin of the Milk River, German troops had built a strong long-term defense which they called the Panther-Wotan line. It was on line that the fate of the Crimean peninsula. The German defense consisted of four lines, covered with solid anti-tank ditches and landmines, the first attempt of the Soviet Southern Front army to break through was unsuccessful
4.
War in Donbass
–
The War in Donbass is an armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Prior to a change of the top leadership in August 2014, during the middle of 2014, Russian paramilitaries were reported to make up between 15% and 80% of the combatants. Crossings occurred both in areas under the control of forces and areas that were not under their control, such as the south-eastern part of Donetsk Oblast. These events followed the reported shelling of Ukrainian positions from the Russian side of the border over the course of the preceding month, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said that the events of 22 August were a direct invasion by Russia of Ukraine. Western and Ukrainian officials described these events as an invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the incursion as defending the Russian-speaking population in the Donbass, as a result of this, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the preceding government military offensive. A deal to establish a ceasefire, called the Minsk Protocol, was signed on 5 September 2014, violations of the ceasefire on both sides were common. The ceasefire completely collapsed in January 2015, with renewed heavy fighting across the zone, including at Donetsk International Airport. A new ceasefire, called Minsk II, was agreed to on 12 February 2015, immediately following the signing of the agreement, separatist forces launched an offensive on Debaltseve and forced Ukrainian forces to withdraw from it. In the months after the fall of Debaltseve, minor skirmishes continued along the line of contact, but no territorial changes occurred. This state of stalemate led the war to be labelled by some a frozen conflict, despite this, the area stayed a war zone, with dozens of soldiers and civilians killed each month. Since the start of the conflict there have been eleven ceasefires, each intended to be indefinite, with the latest having started on 20 February 2017, pro-Russian protesters occupied the Donetsk RSA from 1–6 March, before being removed by the Security Service of Ukraine. On 6 April,1, 000–2,000 people gathered at a rally in Donetsk to demand a status similar to the one held in Crimea in March. The demonstrators stormed the RSA building, and took control of its first two floors, as these demands were not met, the activists held a meeting in the RSA building, and voted in favour of independence from Ukraine. They proclaimed the Donetsk Peoples Republic, concurrent to the events in Donetsk, armed forces led by Russian operative Igor Girkin stormed and occupied government buildings in other regional centers beginning on 12 April. Protesters barricaded the building, and demanded that all arrested separatist leaders be released, at this assembly, they elected Valery Bolotov to the position of Peoples Governor. The Luhansk Peoples Republic was declared on 27 April, representatives of the Republic demanded that Ukrainian government provide amnesty for all protesters, enshrine Russian as an official language, and hold a referendum on the status of the region. They issued an ultimatum that stated that if Kiev did not meet their demands by 14,00 on 29 April, in response to the widening unrest, the acting Ukrainian President, Oleksandr Turchynov, vowed to launch a major anti-terror operation against separatist movements in Donetsk Oblast
5.
Dnipro
–
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk, is Ukraines fourth largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is 391 kilometres southeast of the capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, Dnipropetrovsk is the administrative centre of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance, the city was originally envisioned as the Russian Empires third capital city, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A vital industrial centre of Soviet Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk was one of the key centres of the nuclear, arms, in particular, it is home to the Yuzhmash, a major space and ballistic missile design bureau and manufacturer. Because of its industry, Dnipropetrovsk was a closed city until the 1990s. On 19 May 2016 the official name of the city was changed to Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk is a powerhouse of Ukraines business and politics as the native city for many of the countrys most important figures. Ukraines politics are still defined by the legacies of Leonid Kuchma, Pavlo Lazarenko, in some Anglophone media the city was also known as the Rocket City. In 1918, the Central Council of Ukraine proposed to change the name of the city to Sicheslav, however, in 1926 the city was renamed after Communist leader Grigory Petrovsky. Hence following the 2015 law on decommunization the city had to be renamed, on 19 May 2016 the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill to officially rename the city to the name Dnipro. A monastery was founded by Byzantine monks on Monastyrsky Island, probably in the 9th century, the Tatars destroyed the monastery in 1240. At the beginning of the 15th century, Tatar tribes inhabiting the right bank of the Dnieper were driven away by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, by the mid-15th century, the Nogai and the Crimean Khanate invaded these lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate agreed to a border along the Dnieper and it was in this time that a new force appeared, the free people, the Cossacks. They later became known as Zaporozhian Cossacks and this was a period of raids and fighting causing considerable devastation and depopulation in that area, the area became known as the Wild Fields. On the night of ¾ August 1635, the Cossacks of Ivan Sulyma captured the fort by surprise, burning it down, the fort was rebuilt by French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan for the Polish Government in 1638, and had a mercenary garrison. Kodak was captured by Zaporozhian Cossacks on 1 October 1648, and was garrisoned by the Cossacks until its demolition in accordance with the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711, the ruins of the Kodak are visible now. There is currently a project to restore it and create a tourist centre, under the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654, the territory became part of the Russian Empire. For practical purposes, the Prydniprovye lands remained a border area until the destruction of the Zaporizhian Sich in 1775. The Zaporozhian village of Polovytsia was founded in the late-1760s, between the settlements of Stari and Novi Kodaky and it was located at the present centre of the city to the West to district of Central Terminal and the Ozyorka farmers market
6.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
–
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27,1932, Dnipropetrovsk has a population of about 3,307, 795 , approximately 80% of whom live centering on administrative center of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Kamianske, Nikopol. The Dnieper River runs through the oblast, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is located in southeastern Ukraine. The area of the oblast, comprises about 5. 3% of the area of the country. Its longitude from north to south is 130 km, from east to west –300 km, black Sea Lowland almost completely within the south oblast, covering half of its territory. It is 11 km in diameter and the age is estimated to be 280 ±10 million years, the crater is not exposed at the surface. The Dnieper Upland contains a number of minerals including iron, manganese, granite, graphite, brown coal, Kryvbas is an important economic region, specializing in iron ore mining and the steel industry. It is arguably the main iron ore region of Eastern Europe, named after the city of Kryvyi Rih, the region occupies the southwestern part of the Dnipropetrovsk, as well as a small neighbouring part of the Kirovohrad Oblast. The region possesses major deposits of ore and some other metallurgical ores. To exploit them, several mining companies were founded here in the middle of the 20th century. Most of them are located in Kryvyi Rih itself, which is the longest city in Europe, at the beginning of the 15th century, Tatar tribes inhabiting the right bank of the Dnieper were driven away by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, by the century, the Nogai and the Crimean Khanate invaded these lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate agreed to a border along the Dnieper and it was in this time that there appeared a new force–the Cossacks, armed freemen not subject to any feudal lord– who were to soon dominate the region. They later became known as Zaporozhian Cossacks, from Zaporizhia–the lands south of Prydniprovye– which translates as the Land Beyond the Weirs ) and this was a period of raids and fighting causing considerable devastation and depopulation in that area, the area became known as the Wilderness. On the night of 3 or 4 August 1635, the Cossacks of Ivan Sulyma captured the fort by surprise, burning it down, the fort was rebuilt by French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan for the Polish Government in 1638, and had a mercenary garrison. Kodak was captured by Zaporozhian Cossacks on 1 October 1648, and was garrisoned by the Cossacks until its demolition in accordance with the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711, under the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654, the territory became part of the Russian Empire. The city of Yekaterinoslav was founded in 1776, not in the current location, in December 1796, Paul I reestablished the Novorossiysk Governorate, mostly with land from the former Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty. In 1802, this province was divided into the Nikolayev Governorate, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, and its capital was the city of Yekaterinoslav created in 1802 out the Yekaterinoslav Vice-regency
7.
Sarmatians
–
The Sarmatians were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family and their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia. In the 1st century AD the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes, in the 3rd century AD their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths, a related people to the Sarmatians known as the Alans survived in the North Caucasus into the Early Middle Ages, ultimately giving rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. The Sarmatians were eventually assimilated and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe. Sarmatae probably originated as just one of several names of the Sarmatians. Strabo in the 1st century names as the tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as Sauromatai, which is almost certainly no more than a variant of the same name, nevertheless, historians often regarded these as two separate peoples, while archaeologists habitually use the term Sauromatian to identify the earliest phase of Sarmatian culture. Any idea that the name derives from the lizard, linking to the Sarmatians use of reptile-like scale armour. Both Pliny the Elder and Jordanes recognised the Sar- and Sauro- elements as interchangeable variants, Greek authors of the 4th century mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. Oleg Trubachyov derived the name from the Indo-Aryan *sar-mat, the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian word *sar-, by this derivation was noted the unusual high status of women from the Greek point of view and went to the invention of Amazons. Other scholars, like Harold Walter Bailey, derived the word from Avestan sar- from tsar- in Old Iranian. It was also derived from the name of Avestan region in the west Sairima, recently R. M. Kozlova derived it from *Sъrm- < Proto-Slavic adjective *sъrmatъ, with the meaning that is rich with sormima i. e. shallows, referring to the rivers. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River, for centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they fought with the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, the Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River to the Danube, in 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older kurgans. It was a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea eastward to beyond the Volga, in Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery centre was reportedly unearthed between 2001 and 2006 near Budapest, in the Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical grey, granular Üllő5 ceramics form a group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the north central part of the Great Hungarian Plain region
8.
Khortytsia
–
Khortytsia is the largest island in the River Dnieper, and is 12.5 kilometres long and up to 2.5 kilometres wide. The island forms part of the Khortytsya National Park and this historic site is located within the city limits of Zaporizhia, Ukraine. The island has played an important role in the history of Ukraine, the island has unique flora and fauna, including oak groves, spruce woods, meadows, and steppe. The northern part of the island is rocky and high in comparison to the southern part, which is low. Zaporizhia takes its name from an geographic area downstream of the Dnieper river pass the ninth rapid, in the 1930s when the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station was built, these rapids were flooded. Only granite cliffs, rising to the height of 50 m, Khortytsia has been continuously inhabited during the last five millennia. Other islands in the vicinity also contain indications of intensive occupation during the Proto-Indo-European and Scythian periods. The island of Small Khortytsia is known for its Scythian remains, the islet of Sredeny Stih, excavated during construction of the hydroelectric station in 1927, gave its name to the Sredny Stog culture. In the Early Middle Ages, Khortytsia was a key centre for the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. In his treatise De Administrando Imperio, Emperor Constantine VII mentions the island of St. George immediately downstream from the rapids and he reports that, while passing through the rapids, the Rus would be easy prey for the nomadic Pechenegs. Indeed, the Kiev Rus prince Svyatoslav I was attacked and killed during his attempt to cross the rapids in 972, the very first stronghold known as a Sich was located on the island of Small Khortytsia and was established by the Volhynian prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky. The Small Khortytsia Island is 20 times smaller than Khortytsia itself, the first Khortytsia Sich existed six years. There are few others locations downstream past the rapids where the Zaporizhian Sich was located, there are eight of them, Bazavluk, Mykytyn, Chortomlyk, Kamin, Oleshkiv, Pidpilna. All these places were at river crossings, the uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky was started at the Mykytyn Sich in 1648. Legends state, that wrote the notorious Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire on Khortytsia. In the 1775, the Sich was destroyed by the Russian general Tekhely on the order of Catherine the Great, the Zaporozhian Cossacks as a result were displaced, many eventually settling on the Kuban river in the Caucasus area. These Cossacks became known as Kuban cossacks, a part of the Zaporozhian Cossacks escaped to beyond the Danube to become vassals of the Ottoman Sultan. They dwelt at mouth of the Danube river, in 1830 many of these Cossacks moved and established a new Sich on the Azov sea shore
9.
152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)
–
The 152 mm gun-howitzer M1955, also known as the D-20, is a manually loaded, towed 152 mm artillery piece, manufactured in the Soviet Union during the 1950s. It was first observed by the west in 1955, at time it was designated the M1955. 152 mm has been a Russian calibre since World War I, the new gun-howitzer, was a replacement of the pre-war ML-20 gun-howitzer and various World War II era 152 mm field howitzers, Model 09/30, Model 1910/30, Model 1938 M10 and Model 1943 D-1. By Soviet definition, a 152 mm howitzer is ‘medium’ calibre artillery and it was designated a ‘gun-howitzer’ because its muzzle velocity exceeded 600 m/s, and its barrel length exceeded 30 calibres. It equipped battalions in the rifle division artillery regiment and army level artillery brigades. The design, which was initiated in the late 1940s, was first seen in public in 1955. The guns factory designation was D-20, the carriage is the same as that used for the D-74122 mm Field Gun. The barrel assembly was the basis for the D-22, which was used for the self-propelled 2S3 Akatsiya. The D-20 has a 34 calibre barrel, with a double muzzle brake and a semi-automatic vertical sliding block breech, with a tied jaw. The barrel is mounted in a ring cradle with the trunnions just forward of the breech. The recoil system is mounted on the cradle above the barrel, compression balancing gear is attached behind the saddle support, passing through the complex shaped saddle to connect to the cradle just forward of the trunnions. This can be manually re-pressured by a pump below the breech, the breech has a projectile retaining catch to prevent the shell sliding out at higher elevations before it is rammed with a manual rammer. Top traverse totals 58° and the elevation range is -5° to 45°. Box girder section split trail legs are hinged to the cradle support, the cradle support also has a bolt for locking the barrel in the centre for traverse before towing the gun. To assist with all-round carriage traverse, there is a pivot jack mounted at the front of the cradle support, the pivot jack is not a sole plate and the gun fires with its foam filled rubber tyred wheels supporting the gun on the ground. When the gun is brought into action, the jack is folded down. The pivot jack is used to secure the barrel against vertical movement when the gun is being towed. The barrel is locked in the centre for traverse with a bolt on the cradle support, as was normal for the period, the gun has a shield, including a folding piece below the cradle support
Ukraine