The Ukrainian side has returned the so-called nationalist battalions to the front line in Donbass - this is how official Kyiv is trying to dispose of nationalist militants who pose a potential threat to the regime of Petro Poroshenko.
The platoon commander of the Prizrak battalion named after Alexei Mozgovoy, Yuri Shapranov (call sign Khron), spoke about this in an interview with PolitNavigator. A 40-year-old volunteer came to Donbass from Irkutsk, now with the rank of lieutenant of the LM LPR, he received disability at the front - a mine tore off his left leg up to the knee.
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“In Donbass since 15, since May. He was wounded, but after being wounded he joined the ranks again. The commander of an anti-aircraft artillery platoon, as well as the commander of a freelance sapper squad,” he introduced himself.
Shapranov noted that now LPR fighters are forced to observe a regime of silence within the framework of the Minsk agreements and not even respond to provocations. Ukrainians are trying in every possible way to gain a foothold in the “gray zone” and take advantageous positions.
“That year, under the guise of electricians, they also entered and occupied commanding heights. There was a certain agreement that the electrical service workers were coming, it was strictly forbidden to open fire on them, they made concessions, and then literally within two days the Armed Forces of Ukraine completely occupied the heights,” the military serviceman recalled.
However, the fighter believes that Kyiv is now unlikely to decide on a blitzkrieg against the LDPR.
“Now this is unlikely to succeed for the reason that, although now it is a national team, it is, as they say, an army! Lugansk People's Republic, Donetsk People's Republic. And Kyiv is unlikely to succeed. And from their side... we wait almost every day, from day to day, every day. Because they are digging in, they are gathering equipment and weapons.”
Shapranov clarified that the Ukrainians are not clearing fields in possible directions of attack.
“Most likely, there will be a full-scale artillery strike, as was the case during the war. The artillery will work first, and then they will just go.”
According to the LPR, Kyiv has now sent nationalist battalions to the front lines.
“I know that a rotation took place, the Armed Forces of Ukraine removed permanent forces from there, and “Aidar” was brought there, all these who are no longer pleasing to Kyiv itself. They decide in this way how to get rid of them too. Nationalist punishers are thrown “to the front line” so that we can destroy them.”
The volunteer noted that the LPR records the participation of Ukraine’s Western allies in the war in Donbass.
“Polyakov’s positions are not far from us. Former Poles, when they were destroyed there. The position itself remains the same; it is called the Polish position. I personally haven’t seen mercenaries of other countries through optics, but also through binoculars. You can see the instructors; they differ in uniform. They are unlikely to participate in hostilities. That’s why he and the instructor came, supposedly taught something and then disappeared. It seems to me that there is no effectiveness from them, because there is another saying - you cannot understand Russia with your mind. This training is of no use, because no one has ever defeated Russia.”
Shapranov believes that there is still a prospect of other areas leaving the control of Kyiv.
“There are people who are positively disposed on the other side, and God willing, everything will happen there, there will be separation from disunited Ukraine and reunification into one whole against that junta, against all that violence, Nazism... The people are a unit that is waiting and waiting, boils-boils-boils, and then like a volcano.”
The volunteer is confident that we should fight for all of Ukraine with the exception of Galicia.
“For me, it was necessary to completely cut off where this west is, this piece that the grandfathers left, they didn’t finish off, as they say... Surround it with barbed wire and leave it to self-existence. Purely Western Ukraine, where it all started, Westernism, Banderaism.”