By the beginning of the week, the intensity of the attacks on the DPR territory by Kiev declined slightly. The high activity of the Ukrainian military remained, according to the DPR men on positions, in the south of the Republic, in the Kominternovo area. There the Ukrainian side, under cover of mortars and grenades launchers, tried to carry out reconnaissance of the DPR defense fire positions, slightly changing the direction of their attacks every day.
In the Donetsk area, the central section of the front, according to the DPR Defense Ministry, attacks on the Ukrainian side were mostly carried out with mortars, as well as there occurred regular exchange of fire from heavy machine guns and small arms.
The decrease in the intensity of hostilities could have been caused by a lack of ammunition in the Ukrainian army, which was confirmed by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, or high losses that the Ukrainian side had suffered over the past week. Dozens of the Ukrainian wounded had been reported not only by the DPR intelligence, but also by Ukrainian volunteers and the medical staff of Ukrainian hospitals.
The press service of the ATO headquarters stated that it wasn’t the Ukrainian army but the nationalist battalions, beyond the control of the Ukrainian command and unauthorised at the front, that had suffered losses. However, two days ago residents of one of localities on the Kiev-controlled territory informed that, in a nearby holiday village, many houses had been broken into and clogged with corpses wearing the uniform of the Ukrainian army.
It was particularly quiet in the north of the DPR, in the Gorlovka area, early in the week. The unusual silence was reported by both soldiers on the DPR position and residents of the city that had been subjected to daily bombardments for more than a year.
However, according to the DPR intelligence, all this time Kiev continued to deliver to the front line heavy equipment and weapons, including BMP, tanks, howitzers and motorised artillery systems. The amassing of the Ukrainian arms was particularly intense in the north on the Republic, which gave the DPR military authorities a reason to talk about a possible aggravation of the situation in the northern sector of the front.
The Ukrainian side resumed intense bombardments along the entire front in the middle of the week. Gorlovka came again under a massive blow from the heavy artillery and tanks, Makeevka, a satellite town of Donetsk, was shelled with motorised artillery systems, the positions of the DPR army in the south of Donetsk were attacked by Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles. Even residents of northern suburbs of Donetsk reported projectiles landing in their neighbourhood.
As a result of the attacks, according to the DPR authorities, in Gorlovka 26 houses were damaged and one burnt to the ground. Another house burnt down on the outskirts of Donetsk. Fortunately, there were no civilian casualties, but two soldiers of the DPR army were wounded.
The DPR army immediately returned fire to suppress the Ukrainian artillery, destroying, according to the DPR intelligence sources on the ground, at least one ammunition depot, but it was not able to eliminate all the Ukrainian firing positions.
Residents of the Ukraine-controlled localities reported that Kiev placed artillery positions amidst the residential areas in the hope to cause - or imitate - shelling them from the DPR side. Yesterday, a local resident of a town, located to the west of Donetsk and occupied by the Ukrainian army, reported that he had personally witnessed three rounds from a Ukrainian motorised artillery system towards Donetsk, after which a Ukrainian military reported on the radio that, in a minute or two, fire could be opened at that place. The local man barely had time to hide in the basement.
Locals from Kiev-controlled territories also note that returned fire of the DPR army falls mainly on the position of nationalist battalions. Moreover, according to them, these positions are often shelled by the Ukrainian army units as well. It looks like Kiev has actually decided to get rid of the radicals at all costs. An indirect confirmation of this is the fact that the OSCE observers refuse to document the results of the shelling of the radicals’ positions, which is a constant complaint, in social networks, of the nationalists themselves and volunteers supplying them.
Due to huge losses, at the end of the past week, the Right Sector, the only paramilitary that never joined the Ukrainian army, announced their retirement from the ATO zone. However, two days ago, the DPR army soldiers recorded their presence in the area of the Donetsk airport. The day before it, in the north of Gorlovka, the nationalists opened fire from small arms on a group of journalists, despite the clearly visible word "Press" on the latters’ clothing.
In addition, two days ago, the military authorities of Ukraine announced that the nationalist battalions "Azov" and "Donbass", withdrawn earlier from the front line, were to return in the ATO zone.
In light of the dramatic deterioration of the situation in the north of the DPR, it is particularly alarming that, at the only checkpoint of entry and exit there, Kiev began to delay the procedure for admission of civilians crossing the contact line.
In particular, according to the DPR Defense Ministry, yesterday the Ukrainian military forced about twenty civilian cars to spend night in the neutral zone. The drivers were not allowed either to pass the control to enter the Kiev-controlled territory or go back to the DPR territory. Then, at night, an infantry fighting vehicle at the Ukrainian checkpoint made several rounds at the DPR positions.
Two months ago, the Ukrainian military shelled civilian vehicles spending night in the neutral zone to the south of Donetsk, which resulted in the deaths of five civilians, including a pregnant woman.
Russian representatives to the JCCC (Joint Centre of Control and Coordination of the ceasefire) have repeatedly stated that Kiev deliberately endanger the lives of the civilian population of Donbass. Two days ago, the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) indicted one of them a threat to Ukraine's national security, as a result of which he was deported, with the ban on entry to Ukraine for five years.
- Ukraine-Controlled Localities Bombed by Kiev - Ukrainian Local Councils Seized by Nationalists - Memory of Killed Children of Donbass Shot by Ukrainian Military
- Mariupol Rescue Fund Creation in DPR - A Call to Ukrainians to Sever Ties with Russia - Nazis' Threat of «Night of Long Knives» for Opposition
- Nazis’ Provocation in Avdeevka - Ban on Russian Social Networks in Ukraine - Ukrainian Laws on Elimination of Moscow Patriarchate Church