Donetsk is once again under fire from the Ukrainian Forces

The situation on the contact line near the village of Yasinovataya is getting worse and worse daily. A month ago, the village of Vasilyevka was shelled by the Ukrainian troops several times a week. Now the shelling occurs several times per day. Instead of small arms — 120mm mortars are being used in the shelling. On 19th of February, 92nd brigade of the Ukrainian army fired from 82mm and 120mm mortars. A house with a family in the village of Vasilyevka was under fire. According to a local woman — the Ukrainians corrected their shelling with a help of a drone. They could see clearly that they were attacking a peaceful house. There were no military personnel or vehicles near the building.

After a long silence — the city of Donetsk was once again under fire from the Ukrainian army. In the Kuibyshevskii district, a direct hit to the roof damaged a living building. Another shell exploded in the tree crown, in the courtyard. Windows and balconies were damaged. Luckily no-one was hurt. In the village near the mine ‘Trudovskaya’ the roofs of three buildings were damaged.

The city of Dokuchaevsk was once again under fire from the Ukrainian troops. As a result of the shelling — a local elderly woman was wounded. She was provided with the all necessary medical care.

The representatives of the LPR handed over to the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission what was left from a crash-landed UAV — it fell on the territory of the LPR. On 18th of February, the ‘Camcopter S-100’ drone crashed near the village of Chervonogvardeiskoe, in the Kirovskii area. The UAV caught fire once it hit the ground. The wreckage of the drone was discovered by the representatives of the LPR on the same day.

Last week, the servicemen of the People’s Militia of the DPR, stationed on the positions to the north of the city of Donetsk, observed an odd mortar shelling done by the Ukrainian troops. The shelling hit the no-man’s land in the close proximity to the Ukrainian positions. At the time of the shelling, the servicemen of the People’s Militia of the DPR couldn’t find an explanation for it. Later, during the studying of the video recordings found in a Ukrainian drone, which was shot down when it was correcting the Ukrainian artillery fire, it was possible to establish that the shelling was targeted on a man in military uniform. He was heading from the Ukrainian positions to the DPR. The perished man was Senior Lieutenant Melnichenko. He killed two of his own subordinates, and then tried to escape. The command of the 57th brigade, in which Melnichenko served, decided to kill the fugitive, and write off his death to the shelling from the DPR.

The election agony of the current government of Ukraine has led to a new conflict intensification on all front line areas of Donbass. The command of the Ukrainian army actively encourages their troops to conduct aggressive hostile actions. This is evidenced by the incoming information on the regular replenishment of ammunition of the troops. Heavy military equipment, prohibited by the Minsk agreements, is being used more often on the contact lines. The scouts of the people’s militia of the LPR spotted the arrival to the positions of the Ukrainian troops in Popasnyansky area ‘Strela 10’ AA vehicles, known in NATO as SA-13 ‘Gopher’. An open demonstration of the AA missile systems near the contact line shows that the Ukrainian government isn’t committed to the Minsk agreements. Instead they are implementing a new plan of forcing of an active phase of the conflict to Donbas.

Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.