The war is on – we repeatedly accentuate this fact every time and at every opportunity. Seems like the situation in the forefront is approaching another escalation. This was the subject of talks that took place in the capital: Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Alexander Hug gave a press briefing in which he said that the number of ceasefire violations recorded by the mission, has increased recently, and the whole conflict tends to intensification and shows signs of impending escalation.
The terrorists’ hidden APCs converted into fire positions, in Luhansk region
In particular, the SMM officers recorded certain number of military equipment which not only moves across the occupied territories of Donbas but is used as static fire positions – such fortified armored vehicles of the enemy form new defense lines. Besides, the terrorists have been actively digging in: both the observers and the reckon specialists continuously observe new trenches, dugouts and fortifications emerging in the temporarily occupied areas. To fortify their positions, the terrorists are using construction machinery – the Mission officers recorded its circulation.
The outskirts of temporarily occupied Zaitseve: the terrorists’ latest positions
Let us be impartial: certain amount of equipment and fortifications have been observed in our positions as well. Still honestly, if the terrorists are actively preparing for a hot stage of the war, then it would be highly irresponsible to ignore the threat and not to prepare for possible assault as well as not to pay attention to re-formatting of our positions on our own land in accordance with operative situation. We should always keep in mind that the terrorists are getting ready for offensive, new takeover and ruthless slaughtering of Ukrainians. In contrast, we are preparing for defense and gradual liberation of both our land and people who have to live under occupation.
Petrivske, temporarily occupied Donetsk region: here newly laid mine fields have been observed
In addition, Mr Hug noted that the conflict area has been literally being filled with various types of mines. This has been continuously stated in the SMM’s reports: the observers constantly record appearance of the new signs warning of mine danger. The latest one has been seen in the outskirts of temporarily occupied Donetsk. What is to be expected on the terrorists’ part next – are they going to lay mines in residential areas? Individual residences? Most likely, it will come to this soon. Apart from this, the mine war has been regularly acquiring its sad reflections in reports coming in from the frontline. A few days ago, a Ukrainian de-miner has been killed: the man hit the enemy mine during de-mining he was performing. A bit earlier, our vehicle hit another explosive device, and five our fighters got wounded in the accident. A while ago, our military evacuated the bodies of civilians that fell victims to the terrorists’ mines explosions. These are just a few cases randomly taken out from the news headlines as people have been constantly killed in explosions of mines left by the occupiers in the liberated areas.
Ukrainian military are evacuating the body of a local civilian that hit an enemy mine in the “grey” zone. Photo by Marian Kushnir, RFE/RL
And this is a word delivered by old friends of ours, a military unit working in Svitlodarsk bulge: usually, all the “operative information” has been fired at them directly. According to our fighters, the last three days the environment has been very loud: every hour the terrorists are shelling our positions from mortars. Since 2:00 PM the terrorists have been deploying small arms. Two days ago the sounds of terrorists’ self-propelled artillery were heard near Horlivka.
Now to the practical side of the things: we urge you not to go panic or wring your hands – we are doomed to reading the scary news coming from the frontline until the last occupier has been downed into the hospitable Ukrainian black soils. But each of us can bring this moment closer: the People’s Project Volunteer Center offers you a variety of effective and efficacious ways of assisting to the Ukrainian Army. Within the Rapid Response charitable project, we have been accumulating contributions made by compassionate donators, and at the first opportunity, at the first request, buying equipment for our military. Because our fighters might get hit several times in a row until all the official requests will come to the right clerk, until the Home Front reacts properly, and until the bureaucrats consider the problem. Luckily, we are those who are able of purchasing and sending all the necessary stuff to the forefront immediately. Thermal vision scopes or thermal imagers, powerful optics or specific electronics, – everything that will help our fighters to stay alive and intact in a battle as well as ultimately pacify as many enemies as possible. Dear friends, please join us: has Donbas been liberated yet? Has the war been finished yet? The answer is obvious, so all together, we have to do our best to bring this moment closer.
