Statements by Avakov and Gerashchenko about a successful attack on Novoazovsk are not confirmed - report
Moscow - Kyiv, February 12 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - The most surprisingly quiet point of the self-proclaimed republic yesterday turned out to be Novoazovsk, where the Ukrainian nationalist Azov regiment allegedly began to advance on Tuesday, writes special correspondent "Kommersant" from the scene of events. It turned out that Kyiv’s victorious reports, to put it mildly, were not confirmed.
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The leadership of the Azov regiment stated that the front line has been moved away from Mariupol by 20 kilometers, and its fighters are strengthening along the Shirokino-Kominternovo-Pavlopol line, the publication recalls. And Verkhovna Rada deputy Anton Gerashchenko even stated that the next step on the southern front would be the liberation of the cities of Novoazovsk and Telmanovo, regional centers in close proximity to the Russian-Ukrainian border.
However, yesterday in Novoazovsk nothing reminded of the approaching front line, the newspaper correspondent writes. There are practically no signs of destruction or war here; only three or four people are on duty at the checkpoints. According to a local pensioner, almost no one has left the city, and the seaside boarding houses are inhabited by refugees from those villages that are directly adjacent to the front line.
The head physician of the Novoazovsky district hospital, Alexander Marushchenko, says that as a result of Tuesday’s clashes, one dead and two wounded military men were brought to them - whose military men, Kommersant does not specify. The headquarters of the military (again, it is not specified whose exactly) is located not far from Novoazovsk, in one of the sanatoriums in the village of Bezymennoe. This is halfway to Shirokino, which Azov fighters entered the day before.
Three people are on duty at the last checkpoint of the DPR forces, and there is an ATGM on the side of the road. “Somehow there are not enough of you, given the news about the offensive,” the journalist noted. “And the artillery fired at the attackers, and they changed their minds about attacking further,” the soldiers say. “But further passage is closed, the Ukrainian military is 7 kilometers away.”
A representative of the local headquarters with the call sign “Boxer” claims that the Ukrainian military simply entered settlements that were in the buffer zone and therefore not controlled by anyone. “They fired Grads at us, but they didn’t reach Bezymennoe and fell into a field. We responded with artillery at Kominternovo, and seemed to have covered them there,” “Boxer” talks about the events of the past day.
According to him, “we don’t have an order to attack yet, we will hold the line of defense and see if there is an attempt to develop an offensive.” “As for Minsk, some kind of agreement and peace is possible only when Ukrainian troops completely clear the territory of the Donetsk region, including Mariupol and all other cities,” says the militiaman.
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