Preliminary but very good news and open thread

Dear friends,

I am sorry to report that I will again have to be away from my keyboard for most of the day.  Therefore, I will again leave an open thread for you to use to keep the discussion going.  Please do not use that time to attack anybody personally.

Right now I will just say this:

There are reports from different sources which all point to the same fact: it appears the Ukie force in the "southern cauldron" has been thoroughly defeated and that what is left of it is retreating in chaos and panic.  Apparently the Resistance managed to defeat this large force (3'000-5'000 soldiers supported by heavy equipment) with no fire support from the Russian side.

The Ukie forces are also apparently retreating form Donetsk even though some sources are also claiming that Donetsk is under attack.  Russian sources report that Strelkov imposed a curfew on the city.  Still, there is pretty good evidence that some towns near Donetsk have been abandoned by retreating Ukie forces.

Still no clear news from the Lugansk airport.  I think that what is going on is that the Ukies control only part of the airport, but that this part is very heavily fortified and very well defended.  So even though the Ukies are surrounded, the Resistance cannot "crack" their defenses yet.  I wonder when the newly "acquired" Resistance artillery will be used to put an end to this siege.

The best info so far is on the Russian version website of Colonel Cassad:

http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/

There is an English version which, of course, is delayed by the time needed to translate:

http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com/

If I get any SITREPs I will post them this evening (GMT-5).  Until then, I live you the open thread.

Kind regards to all,

The Saker