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[coyote]

United World Press

updated 1:43 p.m. CT, Thursday, July 9, 2009

ZAPORIZHIA – Fighting continues in the Dnieper River valley as the Zaporizhia Defense Forces Struggle to hold their ground against forces backing Prime Minister Vlasov. The ZDF has been plagued by shortages, starvation, & desertion since a failed offensive in December.

“First we could not fly most of our helicopters because we had no spare parts. Now there is no fuel. Even if we had fuel, there are so few of us pilots left.” said Zaporizhian army Capt. Ivan Kharitonov, “We stay because we believe this is what President Baryatinsky would have wanted. Our struggle keeps his memory alive.”

The civil war in this former Soviet republic is now in its 13th month. The official death toll was set last week at 100,500 although most experts place the number much higher. Most of these have been civilians who may have survived but health care in the country has become almost non existent as most doctors & other medical have been forced into military service by both sides.

In Moscow, U.S President Barack Obama & Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met to discuss among other issues, the war waging in this small Black Sea nation, though neither side could agree on the best way to bring about peace in a war that has killed thousands & displaced nearly a million people. Russia is currently conducting a series of war games in the Caucasus. Many see this as a prelude to invasion as Russia did with neighboring Georgia in 2008.

Else where in the Zaporizhia, with the Peoples Army of Zaporizhia now in control of the capital, Berdyansk, the Parliament under the leadership of Vlasov is attempting to get back to business as normal. Their first official vote in over a year will come this Friday to decide weather or not to rename the capital in honor of slain President Aleksandr Baryatinsky who lead the country to independence from the USSR in 1991 & lead the nation until his assassination in February of 2008.
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