Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2022 2:09 pm
Donbass in anticipation of a big war: Kiev is doing everything to worsen the situation
In Ukraine, they once again started talking about the need to resolve the conflict in Donbass peacefully, and even touched upon the possibility of holding direct negotiations with representatives of the LDNR. But while analysts are evaluating how realistic this is, the current situation at the front itself provides answers to all questions.
On the eve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the outskirts of Horlivka were once again shelled. Small arms and sniper weapons were fired at the village of mine 6/7 from Ukrainian positions. The fact that they were shooting at the residential sector on the Feast of the Epiphany does not surprise the local residents at all, on the contrary, it was expected. Massive shelling was expected here at Christmas, but then the situation was relatively calm.
"As soon as some kind of holiday, we immediately wait. New Year, Christmas, on Miner's Day, we always get shelled!" - says a resident of Gorlovka Galina.
According to her, on the eve of the holidays, the residents of the front-line village were seriously worried about the current situation, expecting massive strikes. For several days in a row, the Ukrainian anthem was clearly heard from the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As local residents later suggested, the soldiers stationed there used the loudspeakers that were equipped with the railway station, which is now under the control of Kiev.
“At first I didn’t understand, and then they call me, they say, do you hear? I listened - the anthem of Ukraine. Did they turn on us, or did they cheer themselves up?” - Galina asks a rhetorical question.
It is worth adding that this is far from the first case of such provocations from the Ukrainian side. For several years in a row, on Victory Day, Nazi military marches have been played through loudspeakers on this sector of the front.
In general, given that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not currently conducting targeted shelling of the civilian sector of the Republic, but the intensity of the fire is not decreasing, it is quite reasonable that many people assume that Kiev creates the effect of presence and does not allow its military personnel to relax in the first place.
What is the Ukrainian army preparing for? A possible answer was voiced by the People's Militia Department of the DPR, saying that they have data on the preparation of terrorist attacks and sabotage at key civilian infrastructure facilities near the demarcation line. Gorlovka, Yasinovataya, Donetsk and Dokuchaevsk, as well as front-line settlements located in these areas, may be under attack.
At the same time, as Eduard Basurin, an official presenting the defense department of the DPR, told Vladimir Solovyov on the air, the key goal of all these actions for Kiev is to accuse the Russian Federation of "invasion". This is a completely logical assumption against the backdrop of all the latest statements made both in Ukraine and outside the West. Terrorist activity of Ukraine in Donbass is not a new phenomenon. The past year was notable for a whole series of attacks on the life support facilities of the Republic, and therefore there is every reason to assume that 2022 will pass in the same vein.
At the same time, Kiev continues to conduct rhetoric that is diametrically opposed to real actions. While the political leadership of Ukraine talks about its commitment to the peace process, the echelons of military equipment continue to go to the Donbass. While in Kiev they are discussing the possibility of a direct dialogue with the Republics, on the front lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine they are daily firing at civilian settlements in the DPR and LPR.
Local residents of the frontline zone insist: the more peacefully they speak in Ukraine, the worse the situation at the front becomes, and therefore everything that is happening now makes us prepare for the worst.
Author: Georgy Medvedev
https://novorosinform.org/donbass-v-ozh ... 87759.html
************************************
Readiness number one: DPR citizens about military escalation in Donbass
Over the past week, Kiev has increased the number of shellings, despite the truce, which melts like ice under the sun. The shelling of the positions of the People’s Militia of the DPR near Donetsk and in the Yasinovatsky direction with a large caliber by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the sounding of a number of sectors of the front by Ukrainian saboteurs, is an indicator that the sluggish Donbass war is rapidly developing into an active phase.
Frontline zone - special living conditions
For today's Nazi Ukraine, the main problem lies in the very fact of the existence of people's republics. And Kiev, by all its actions, clearly confirms that it intends to wage a war to destroy them.
Residents of Donbass, who actually live on the front line, understand the seriousness of the current situation.
According to Victoria K., a resident of the front-line Petrovsky district, whose husband is fighting for the republic, cases have recently become more frequent when explosive devices disguised as some things or household items are dropped from UAVs.
"Small bombs can be disguised as anything. They can be placed in things, a first-aid kit. There were several cases when our soldiers were injured if they inadvertently stepped on such disguised explosives. This happened, for example, before the holidays, when one soldier stepped on some kind of bundle, and it exploded. Another (fighter) picked up a first-aid kit, there was also a bomb. His armor (body armor) saved him, he would not have survived . "
Donchanka said that disguised explosives could be scattered not only in the frontline zone, but also in any region of the DPR.
“It’s not a fact that Ukrainian saboteurs will not penetrate here, who, by the way, are repeatedly advanced to our positions. As if they are testing their strength…, ” she added.
The harsh time dictates special rules of behavior in the frontline, vigilance, caution. And at the same time, many residents of the front-line areas have a tense expectation of a certain denouement. Especially when the Armed Forces of Ukraine, having closely approached residential buildings, as in the suburbs of Dokuchaevsk, are constantly firing to kill from various types of weapons.
Many people living in the frontline zones of Donetsk, Gorlovka, Yasinovataya fear that one day, upon waking up, they may see Ukrainian flags due to the surrender of positions by the People's Militia of the DPR.
According to Inna S., whose relatives live in a front-line village near Dokuchaevsk, this has already happened in Staromarievka.
"The village was in a neutral zone, and, in the end, it was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Then I read somewhere an explanation that there (near the village) there were allegedly uncomfortable positions for our police. Therefore, they relocated somewhere else. But Well, it’s easy to say… Our people lived in the village, who received humanitarian aid from the DPR, and now it’s not known what happened to them…”, she said.
The woman lives near the village of Trudovskie in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and fears that the village will repeat the fate of Staromaryivka.
“The worst thing for the residents of the village is if the positions are surrendered according to some military plans, and then they are recaptured. I heard that in our red zone near Donetsk there is no influence of the commandant’s office at all, that is, there are no military ones, and there are no defensive structures. This means that, for example, the tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may not meet any technical barriers that were removed even under Zakharchenko (the first head of the DPR), 25 kilometers and on Lenin Square .... Do you understand what it is? ” she says.
The awareness of the female half of the population of the Trudovskys in military matters is typical for the Donbass, where even children distinguish by a special whistle what weapon a projectile was fired from.
The so-called buffer (neutral) zone, where a number of settlements are located, is one of the most vulnerable places. The periodic deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to this territory demonstrates a clear unwillingness of Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements.
To date, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have captured more than 10 settlements in the neutral zone in the Donbass.
When diplomacy is exhausted
At the same time, the transfer of Ukrainian equipment to the frontline and its concentration in different areas, including in the area of the capital of the DPR, as well as in the southern direction, intensified in the region. The soldiers of the DPR tell about it.
"It feels like the Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively preparing ... for an offensive. So far, apparently, there has been no political will in this regard. But now, every night you can hear how their (Ukrainian) equipment is moving along the highway connecting Avdiivka and Krasnoarmeysk. Previously, they were against us there was one brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and now there are two of them. And they (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) have significantly increased the number of snipers equipped with thermal imagers, night sights and large-caliber rifles. In a word, the enemy is strengthening and is only waiting for an order from Kiev, "said one of the servicemen of the People's Militia DNR.
According to him, the passage of Ukrainian columns with infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and tanks was also repeatedly observed. A clear strengthening of the enemy’s positions is indicated by an increase in the number of OZM mines that the DPR People’s Militia fighters now constantly find near their positions.
In a word, the military situation clearly shows that diplomatic methods have finally reached a dead end and, apparently, have exhausted themselves.
A few days earlier, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, ordered a number of control measures to be carried out by the mobilization department of the DPR. From now on, this work will include local governments, which have already begun to develop a set of various measures regarding the mobilization agenda and, accordingly, the defense of the republic.
It should be noted that in the DPR the law on mobilization training was adopted in 2015, a combat-ready army was created in the person of the People's Militia, and intelligence and other bodies included in the defense department were formed. Those. the very fact of meeting the enemy in a non-combat-ready (not mobilized) state of peacetime is excluded.
On the current state of affairs in terms of readiness to repel the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if it nevertheless follows in the interval of the end of winter - the beginning of spring, the People's Militia fighters speak cautiously.
“In military terms, based on known facts, Kiev has about 13 brigades against us. And the length of the front reaches about 400 km. This is one brigade for a little less than 40 km. It is clear that they are now building up their grouping, delivered new brigades, while the old ones were not removed. Previously, they had a rotation by brigade, new ones replaced the old ones. As a result, there are about 125 thousand of them (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) at the line of contact ... " , - said one of the fighters of the People's Militia of the DPR.
According to the serviceman, it is not known what tactics the Armed Forces will use.
"They can, for example, throw one brigade into battle, and then try to outflank our positions from the flanks ... Let's see how they behave. I only know for sure that we will not give up our land ," the fighter added.
Let's rely on the internal reserve?
In a period of military escalation, not only the strengthening of the army, capable of defending the republic, comes to the fore. One of the important topics is properly organized work with the local population, which must be ready not only to endure the hardships of the war, but also to fight against Nazi tyranny.
As the military threat grows, the importance of ideological values in society, and the Donbass is no exception, is increasing dramatically. The need for clear answers to the basic ideological questions "who are we?", "Where are we from?" and "where are we going?" becomes a powerful factor in the struggle for national-state survival. However, the overall picture of the coverage of the population in the republic, which defends the right to freedom, emerges rather modest.
So, since 2019, there has been a People’s Druzhina in the DPR, which at one time pretty much frightened the propagandists of Radio Liberty. Now it would not bother her to patrol the streets more often, so that the population in the same Donetsk knows that such a voluntary association exists.
In the DPR, a public organization "Military-patriotic movement "Young Guard-Yunarmia" was also created, uniting a number of patriotic clubs. The association is engaged in search work to perpetuate the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland, volunteer work, including assistance to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, conduct local history meetings, etc. "Young Guard-Youth Army" exists in the LPR.
Luhansk residents have also developed a military-patriotic program of additional education "Volunteer", aimed at teaching young people directly military disciplines.
These social movements, apparently, due to their young age, have not yet acquired a mass character.
There is a significant stratum of former militias in the DPR, whose invaluable combat experience could be useful in the so-called "truce" time. However, we have to admit that in the people's republics, fighters who often return from the war feel a certain detachment from the state from them.
“In 2014, we felt like we were part of making history,” one militia friend told me. “Now I’m at war again… only with bureaucrats on various everyday problems.”
That cult of the defender of the Fatherland, which existed in the pre-war USSR and exists in some states that defend their freedom, is, alas, not observed in the republics.
The Law "On Participants in Combat Actions", according to which the militias were to be given equal rights with the fighters of the "NM", as well as amendments to the Law "On the Social Protection of War Veterans", according to the testimony of the militias themselves, do not fully operate, and many who fought with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the first years of the war, were actually out of work.
Even the issuance of relevant documents - certificates of combatants, a primary and necessary measure, was taken only in the sixth year of the war, which looks rather strange for a republic where the actual border with the aggressor country runs a few kilometers from the capital.
Natalya Zalevskaya
https://novorosinform.org/gotovnost-nom ... 87586.html
All above Google Translator
In Ukraine, they once again started talking about the need to resolve the conflict in Donbass peacefully, and even touched upon the possibility of holding direct negotiations with representatives of the LDNR. But while analysts are evaluating how realistic this is, the current situation at the front itself provides answers to all questions.
On the eve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the outskirts of Horlivka were once again shelled. Small arms and sniper weapons were fired at the village of mine 6/7 from Ukrainian positions. The fact that they were shooting at the residential sector on the Feast of the Epiphany does not surprise the local residents at all, on the contrary, it was expected. Massive shelling was expected here at Christmas, but then the situation was relatively calm.
"As soon as some kind of holiday, we immediately wait. New Year, Christmas, on Miner's Day, we always get shelled!" - says a resident of Gorlovka Galina.
According to her, on the eve of the holidays, the residents of the front-line village were seriously worried about the current situation, expecting massive strikes. For several days in a row, the Ukrainian anthem was clearly heard from the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As local residents later suggested, the soldiers stationed there used the loudspeakers that were equipped with the railway station, which is now under the control of Kiev.
“At first I didn’t understand, and then they call me, they say, do you hear? I listened - the anthem of Ukraine. Did they turn on us, or did they cheer themselves up?” - Galina asks a rhetorical question.
It is worth adding that this is far from the first case of such provocations from the Ukrainian side. For several years in a row, on Victory Day, Nazi military marches have been played through loudspeakers on this sector of the front.
In general, given that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not currently conducting targeted shelling of the civilian sector of the Republic, but the intensity of the fire is not decreasing, it is quite reasonable that many people assume that Kiev creates the effect of presence and does not allow its military personnel to relax in the first place.
What is the Ukrainian army preparing for? A possible answer was voiced by the People's Militia Department of the DPR, saying that they have data on the preparation of terrorist attacks and sabotage at key civilian infrastructure facilities near the demarcation line. Gorlovka, Yasinovataya, Donetsk and Dokuchaevsk, as well as front-line settlements located in these areas, may be under attack.
At the same time, as Eduard Basurin, an official presenting the defense department of the DPR, told Vladimir Solovyov on the air, the key goal of all these actions for Kiev is to accuse the Russian Federation of "invasion". This is a completely logical assumption against the backdrop of all the latest statements made both in Ukraine and outside the West. Terrorist activity of Ukraine in Donbass is not a new phenomenon. The past year was notable for a whole series of attacks on the life support facilities of the Republic, and therefore there is every reason to assume that 2022 will pass in the same vein.
At the same time, Kiev continues to conduct rhetoric that is diametrically opposed to real actions. While the political leadership of Ukraine talks about its commitment to the peace process, the echelons of military equipment continue to go to the Donbass. While in Kiev they are discussing the possibility of a direct dialogue with the Republics, on the front lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine they are daily firing at civilian settlements in the DPR and LPR.
Local residents of the frontline zone insist: the more peacefully they speak in Ukraine, the worse the situation at the front becomes, and therefore everything that is happening now makes us prepare for the worst.
Author: Georgy Medvedev
https://novorosinform.org/donbass-v-ozh ... 87759.html
************************************
Readiness number one: DPR citizens about military escalation in Donbass
Over the past week, Kiev has increased the number of shellings, despite the truce, which melts like ice under the sun. The shelling of the positions of the People’s Militia of the DPR near Donetsk and in the Yasinovatsky direction with a large caliber by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the sounding of a number of sectors of the front by Ukrainian saboteurs, is an indicator that the sluggish Donbass war is rapidly developing into an active phase.
Frontline zone - special living conditions
For today's Nazi Ukraine, the main problem lies in the very fact of the existence of people's republics. And Kiev, by all its actions, clearly confirms that it intends to wage a war to destroy them.
Residents of Donbass, who actually live on the front line, understand the seriousness of the current situation.
According to Victoria K., a resident of the front-line Petrovsky district, whose husband is fighting for the republic, cases have recently become more frequent when explosive devices disguised as some things or household items are dropped from UAVs.
"Small bombs can be disguised as anything. They can be placed in things, a first-aid kit. There were several cases when our soldiers were injured if they inadvertently stepped on such disguised explosives. This happened, for example, before the holidays, when one soldier stepped on some kind of bundle, and it exploded. Another (fighter) picked up a first-aid kit, there was also a bomb. His armor (body armor) saved him, he would not have survived . "
Donchanka said that disguised explosives could be scattered not only in the frontline zone, but also in any region of the DPR.
“It’s not a fact that Ukrainian saboteurs will not penetrate here, who, by the way, are repeatedly advanced to our positions. As if they are testing their strength…, ” she added.
The harsh time dictates special rules of behavior in the frontline, vigilance, caution. And at the same time, many residents of the front-line areas have a tense expectation of a certain denouement. Especially when the Armed Forces of Ukraine, having closely approached residential buildings, as in the suburbs of Dokuchaevsk, are constantly firing to kill from various types of weapons.
Many people living in the frontline zones of Donetsk, Gorlovka, Yasinovataya fear that one day, upon waking up, they may see Ukrainian flags due to the surrender of positions by the People's Militia of the DPR.
According to Inna S., whose relatives live in a front-line village near Dokuchaevsk, this has already happened in Staromarievka.
"The village was in a neutral zone, and, in the end, it was occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Then I read somewhere an explanation that there (near the village) there were allegedly uncomfortable positions for our police. Therefore, they relocated somewhere else. But Well, it’s easy to say… Our people lived in the village, who received humanitarian aid from the DPR, and now it’s not known what happened to them…”, she said.
The woman lives near the village of Trudovskie in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and fears that the village will repeat the fate of Staromaryivka.
“The worst thing for the residents of the village is if the positions are surrendered according to some military plans, and then they are recaptured. I heard that in our red zone near Donetsk there is no influence of the commandant’s office at all, that is, there are no military ones, and there are no defensive structures. This means that, for example, the tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may not meet any technical barriers that were removed even under Zakharchenko (the first head of the DPR), 25 kilometers and on Lenin Square .... Do you understand what it is? ” she says.
The awareness of the female half of the population of the Trudovskys in military matters is typical for the Donbass, where even children distinguish by a special whistle what weapon a projectile was fired from.
The so-called buffer (neutral) zone, where a number of settlements are located, is one of the most vulnerable places. The periodic deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to this territory demonstrates a clear unwillingness of Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements.
To date, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have captured more than 10 settlements in the neutral zone in the Donbass.
When diplomacy is exhausted
At the same time, the transfer of Ukrainian equipment to the frontline and its concentration in different areas, including in the area of the capital of the DPR, as well as in the southern direction, intensified in the region. The soldiers of the DPR tell about it.
"It feels like the Armed Forces of Ukraine are actively preparing ... for an offensive. So far, apparently, there has been no political will in this regard. But now, every night you can hear how their (Ukrainian) equipment is moving along the highway connecting Avdiivka and Krasnoarmeysk. Previously, they were against us there was one brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and now there are two of them. And they (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) have significantly increased the number of snipers equipped with thermal imagers, night sights and large-caliber rifles. In a word, the enemy is strengthening and is only waiting for an order from Kiev, "said one of the servicemen of the People's Militia DNR.
According to him, the passage of Ukrainian columns with infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and tanks was also repeatedly observed. A clear strengthening of the enemy’s positions is indicated by an increase in the number of OZM mines that the DPR People’s Militia fighters now constantly find near their positions.
In a word, the military situation clearly shows that diplomatic methods have finally reached a dead end and, apparently, have exhausted themselves.
A few days earlier, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, ordered a number of control measures to be carried out by the mobilization department of the DPR. From now on, this work will include local governments, which have already begun to develop a set of various measures regarding the mobilization agenda and, accordingly, the defense of the republic.
It should be noted that in the DPR the law on mobilization training was adopted in 2015, a combat-ready army was created in the person of the People's Militia, and intelligence and other bodies included in the defense department were formed. Those. the very fact of meeting the enemy in a non-combat-ready (not mobilized) state of peacetime is excluded.
On the current state of affairs in terms of readiness to repel the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if it nevertheless follows in the interval of the end of winter - the beginning of spring, the People's Militia fighters speak cautiously.
“In military terms, based on known facts, Kiev has about 13 brigades against us. And the length of the front reaches about 400 km. This is one brigade for a little less than 40 km. It is clear that they are now building up their grouping, delivered new brigades, while the old ones were not removed. Previously, they had a rotation by brigade, new ones replaced the old ones. As a result, there are about 125 thousand of them (the Armed Forces of Ukraine) at the line of contact ... " , - said one of the fighters of the People's Militia of the DPR.
According to the serviceman, it is not known what tactics the Armed Forces will use.
"They can, for example, throw one brigade into battle, and then try to outflank our positions from the flanks ... Let's see how they behave. I only know for sure that we will not give up our land ," the fighter added.
Let's rely on the internal reserve?
In a period of military escalation, not only the strengthening of the army, capable of defending the republic, comes to the fore. One of the important topics is properly organized work with the local population, which must be ready not only to endure the hardships of the war, but also to fight against Nazi tyranny.
As the military threat grows, the importance of ideological values in society, and the Donbass is no exception, is increasing dramatically. The need for clear answers to the basic ideological questions "who are we?", "Where are we from?" and "where are we going?" becomes a powerful factor in the struggle for national-state survival. However, the overall picture of the coverage of the population in the republic, which defends the right to freedom, emerges rather modest.
So, since 2019, there has been a People’s Druzhina in the DPR, which at one time pretty much frightened the propagandists of Radio Liberty. Now it would not bother her to patrol the streets more often, so that the population in the same Donetsk knows that such a voluntary association exists.
In the DPR, a public organization "Military-patriotic movement "Young Guard-Yunarmia" was also created, uniting a number of patriotic clubs. The association is engaged in search work to perpetuate the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland, volunteer work, including assistance to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, conduct local history meetings, etc. "Young Guard-Youth Army" exists in the LPR.
Luhansk residents have also developed a military-patriotic program of additional education "Volunteer", aimed at teaching young people directly military disciplines.
These social movements, apparently, due to their young age, have not yet acquired a mass character.
There is a significant stratum of former militias in the DPR, whose invaluable combat experience could be useful in the so-called "truce" time. However, we have to admit that in the people's republics, fighters who often return from the war feel a certain detachment from the state from them.
“In 2014, we felt like we were part of making history,” one militia friend told me. “Now I’m at war again… only with bureaucrats on various everyday problems.”
That cult of the defender of the Fatherland, which existed in the pre-war USSR and exists in some states that defend their freedom, is, alas, not observed in the republics.
The Law "On Participants in Combat Actions", according to which the militias were to be given equal rights with the fighters of the "NM", as well as amendments to the Law "On the Social Protection of War Veterans", according to the testimony of the militias themselves, do not fully operate, and many who fought with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the first years of the war, were actually out of work.
Even the issuance of relevant documents - certificates of combatants, a primary and necessary measure, was taken only in the sixth year of the war, which looks rather strange for a republic where the actual border with the aggressor country runs a few kilometers from the capital.
Natalya Zalevskaya
https://novorosinform.org/gotovnost-nom ... 87586.html
All above Google Translator