On Thursday, February 17, the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR) and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) accused each other of shelling and escalating the conflict in Donbass.
Statements from the DNR and LNR
As follows from the statements of the People’s Militia (NM) of the LPR, Kiev tried to aggravate the situation on the line of contact in the Donbass. According to the agency, in the morning the Armed Forces of Ukraine opened fire on five settlements of the LPR – the village of Zolote-5, Sokolniki, Veselenkoe, Nizhnee Lozovoe and the urban-type settlement of Donetsk.
The DPR also said that since the beginning of the day, the Ukrainian military had violated the ceasefire several times. The People’s Militia of the Republic clarified that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were shelling from grenade launchers and small arms in the direction of the villages of Kominternovo, Oktyabr, Petrovskoye and Novolaspa. Later, the DPR representative office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC) also reported mortar shelling on the outskirts of the cities of Gorlovka and Donetsk.
The People’s Militia of the DPR emphasized that in order to protect the civilian population, they were forced to return fire on the positions of the Ukrainian security forces.
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Statements of the Ukrainian side
In turn, at the headquarters of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) accused the enemy in shelling in the direction of a number of settlements in the Donbass. They noted that as a result, one Ukrainian soldier and two civilians were wounded.
The Ukrainian side also reported that a shell fired from the territory of the unrecognized republics hit the building of a kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska. According to preliminary data from the JFO headquarters, as a result of the incident, three civilians received shell shock, and half of the village was left without electricity.
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The reaction of the locals
In an interview with Lenta.ru, one of the fighters of the NM of the LPR said that he considered it a provocation from Kiev to report that one or another point in the territory controlled by Ukraine came under fire. Local journalists covering the events on the contact line turned out to be in solidarity with him. They stressed that the Ukrainian media, in close cooperation with the military, regularly create such fakes.
Journalist Vladislav Ugolny also noted that he did not consider it appropriate to talk about a serious escalation in the region at the moment.
After some lull and against the backdrop of a possible war, these shellings seem to be harbingers of an aggravation – but not a fact. It only means that the front-line areas are again under fire and the people living there are suffering. Globally nothing has changed yet
journalist Vladislav Coal
Western reaction
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reacted to the shelling in Donbass. He suggested that the escalation of the conflict is an attempt by Russia to create a pretext for invading Ukraine. At the same time, the NATO Secretary General noted that the propaganda of the North Atlantic Alliance about the preparation of an attack by the Russian military on Ukrainian territory is aimed at preventing this.
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