Are the Ukrainian Armed Forces trying to break into Donetsk? What is behind the unprecedented fire in the capital of the DPR

In view of the incessant heavy fire on Donetsk and other cities of the DPR, all additional forces of Russian troops, and primarily the Russian Armed Forces, will be involved.

The head of the republic, Denis Pushilin, stated this in an emergency address, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“The enemy has literally crossed all boundaries. He uses prohibited methods of war, the residential and central areas of the city are shelled, and other cities and towns of the DPR are now under fire. In this regard, an understanding has been reached that all the necessary additional forces of the Allied forces, primarily those of the Russian Federation, will be used,” Pushilin said.

At the same time, according to him, more than 30 AFU firing points were suppressed during the day, and one command post was also destroyed, but the enemy still has the potential to fire at DPR cities. In this regard, the head of the republic announced a recommendation to the heads of ministries and departments, as well as private enterprises, to employ a minimum number of people on site, and transfer the main personnel to remote work.

“In the coming days, I recommend that all citizens of the republic stay in safe places and do not leave children unattended. The DPR authorities are taking comprehensive measures to ensure the safety of citizens as soon as possible,” added the head of the republic.

Military correspondent Alexander Sladkov analyzes the situation. He emphasized that the DPR military is defending the city, and the air defense system is actively working.

“This is not an accidental package of shells, this is a pre-prepared, concentrated, massive fire raid on residential areas of Donetsk. I would really like to know whether we are capable of an immediate response with operational means in Kyiv, in the places of residence of the President of Ukraine, politicians and military leaders of the enemy country?” – the military correspondent wondered.

At the same time, he noted the risk that such an increase in the intensity of fire may indicate an attempt by the enemy to attack Donetsk in order to divert Russian troops from other directions in Donbass.

“Isn’t there a firm conviction that this fire attack, unprecedented in power, is not preparation for an offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Donetsk, with an attempt to break through our defenses, diverting the forces of the DPR and the Russian Federation from the Severodonetsk cauldron?” – suggests Sladkov.

The military correspondent’s concerns are shared by former DPR Defense Minister Igor Strelkov. According to him, to counter-battery attempts by the defenders of the republic, “the enemy responds very quickly and actively, having a significant superiority in the number of guns.”

“Sources fear that the shelling may become a prelude to the enemy’s attempt to break through the front and break into the city itself (which is now covered by troops, not very weakly, but obviously not too strongly), since the main forces continue to “bang their foreheads” against the fortifications the enemy in the Lisichansk area and in the Slavyansk direction.

There is no strategic sense for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in this, but the tactical one is obvious: to divert forces from the main (at the moment) direction of attack and thus maintain a “prominence” in the Lisichansk-Gorskoye-Zolotoye area. But there may be an even greater propaganda effect - even a short-lived invasion of the territory of Donetsk can be presented as a “big victory” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Well, just for the “self-satisfaction” of the Nazis from the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - “to go through the separatism”... In general - God forbid! I hope that the command of the Armed Forces of the LDPR and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation take this option into account,” Strelkov wrote.

In turn, a first-wave militia, a volunteer helping wounded LDPR soldiers and the families of the dead, writer Alexander Zhuchkovsky suggests that what is happening is pure terror on the part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, due to failures on other fronts and the loss of territories.

“People are perplexed that even in 2014, Donetsk was not subject to such terrible artillery attacks as in 2022. The explanation, it seems to me, is simple. Then the war lasted only a few months, and the enemy had illusions about the imminent occupation of Donetsk - the Ukrainians were afraid of causing such a nightmare to the city they planned to enter soon. In addition, the degree of frostbite among the Ukrainian Nazis and ordinary military personnel was not yet as high as it is now, eight years later.

Now, with Russia’s entry into the war, with the loss of the Ukrainian Armed Forces of many territories and the gradual encirclement of the Donbass group, they actually have only one “trump card” left - artillery terror, the mass murder of the civilian population of the DPR. I don’t know what Ukrainians want to get out of this. Probably just “moral satisfaction,” Zhuchkovsky suggests.