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Владимир Ивахненко; Александр Гостев; Любовь Чижова; Марк Крутов
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"Ahead is a lot of trials"
Former Minister of Defense of Ukraine talks about the possible blockade of Donetsk and Lugansk
Last night in the east of Ukraine, shootings and clashes of separatists and the Ukrainian army continued. Armed supporters of the Donetsk People's Republic are trying to gain a foothold in Donetsk, the former Minister of Defense of Ukraine Mikhail Koval talks about the possible blockade of the city.
About what is happening in Donetsk in the last hours, Radio Liberty was told by the correspondent of the Donbass News of the Donbass Mikhail Bagan :
- The militants are concentrated mainly in the city center. As far as I know, they are also in one of the military units, which is located in the city. They occupied the military department of the Donetsk National Technical University, at which they conduct their training. According to official messages, over the past night there was shooting in two districts of the city. Actually, this is all official information at the moment.
-Is it known about the plans of the separatists themselves who entered Donetsk? It is clear what they will do next? What are the plans of the Ukrainian military?
-The separatists themselves claim that this is only the beginning, that they are preparing for some, apparently, more large-scale actions. In any case, they declare this. As for the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian security forces, in general, Donetsk promise not to bomb, not to use heavy equipment, but as far as I know, the main attention is concentrated on the final liberation of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, since there were many where the mines remained, stretching. Now there are still Ukrainian security forces. In general, in the region, as far as I know, there were three attacks on the checkpoints of the ATO forces. From the part of the militants there are no killed, one wounded.
- What is the situation in Donetsk? What is the mood among civilians? Is there any plan of another evacuation? Or already everyone who wanted to leave, have left?
- Regarding the evacuation, there are no official statements yet. They say that the corridor will be created, but it is still not created. They promised to create a Tuesday before. We are waiting for tomorrow. As for the mood of people. People try not to go to the city center. Trying to sit at home. People are scared. People are afraid of armed people with machine guns in the center. This is nonsense! This has never happened in such quantities, the technique drives. People are scared to death, ”says Donetsk journalist Mikhail Bagan .
Despite the fact that the cities and villages of the Donetsk region are gradually under the control of the Ukrainian military (except for Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, fighters of the forces of the anti -terrorist operation also control the friendship, Artemovsk and Konstantinovka ), the shootouts in the anti -terrorist operation are continued - they are reported by Dmitry Tymechuk, the Coordinator of the Information Resistance group. The last 12 hours, explosions in Lugansk do not stop. The army command claims that he does not conduct hostilities here. The journalist of the local Internet Gazeta "Eastern option" Irina Kozyreva also says that the separatists themselves arrange shelling:
Former acting The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Mikhail Koval said on Sunday evening on the air of the Inter television channel that the plan of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko provides for the full blockade of Donetsk and Lugansk. Valery Geletey, who replaced him in this post,, in turn, rejected the accusations in an interview with TSN that the separatists were calmly allowed to leave Slavyansk to Donetsk: according to him, the core of the retreating column was destroyed. The words about the blockade were explained by the press secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andrei Lysenko : “There are many requests regarding the wording of the“ siege of cities ”. In fact, approaches to these cities are blocking so that neither weapons, nor weapons, nor live power are received,” Lysenko at Monday at briefing for journalists in Kiev.
In the Slavyansk and Kramatorsk controlled by the Ukrainian military cities, the authorities began to restore the infrastructure, and established the supply of drinking water and food. Ukrainian flags flutter over the cities liberated from separatists. The capture of the former main stronghold and the symbol of separatism - Slavyansk - the head of the Ukrainian state, Petro Poroshenko , called a turning point in the struggle for the territorial integrity of the country:
- Ahead of us there are many more trials. And my order remains in force - to narrow the ring around the terrorists, to continue the operation to liberate the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. The events of recent days confirmed the validity and expediency of a peaceful plan, as, indeed, the correctness of the decision on a temporary ceasefire. It was not supported by the militants, and they bear responsibility for this and will bear further punishment, ”said Petro Poroshenko .
There are still many tests ahead of us
The President of Ukraine added that there will no longer be a one -sided ceasefire in the Donbass. The announcement of the truce, in his opinion, is possible only in the fulfillment of such conditions: the complete restoration of control on the Ukrainian-Russian border with the participation of OSCE observers, the unconditional delivery of weapons by separatists and the release of all prisoners and hostages.
Former Minister of Defense of Ukraine talks about the possible blockade of Donetsk and Lugansk
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0:00 0:01:16 Download the media fileOn Sunday, the forces of the National Guard took control of the village of Lawn Krasnolimansky District, Donetsk region. This was reported by the correspondent of "Ukrainian Truth" from the scene. The Ukrainian side claims that during the operation near Donetsk, which was carried out by the Ukrainian volunteer battalions of Donbass and Dnipro-2, 20 separatists from the Vostok battalion were killed.
According to Donetsk, as eyewitnesses say, numerous columns of the armed militias of the self -proclaimed "Donetsk People’s Republic" are moving, who often stop civilians and arrange interrogations right on the street. Fighters of separatist formations are massively populated into the hostels of the Donetsk National University.
Ukrainian security forces admit that the liberation of Lugansk and Donetsk can drag on for a long time. In order to prevent sacrifices among the local population, the ATO forces do not intend to inflict aviation blows to these cities, said the commander of the National Guard Stepan Poltorak on the air of the Ukraine channel:
- Nobody will apply aviation blows to the cities, all the more there is random shooting there. Now our main task is to free the whole Donbass from people who do not want to live in the world. Therefore, our tactics will be offensive. We will pursue and destroy them. Law enforcement agencies will deal with those who voluntarily surrender weapons. And we will talk very hard with them, ”the commander of the National Guard emphasized.
The ATO forces command now pays special attention to the surrender to the population of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka and Konstantinovka of Rifle weapons, ammunition and explosive devices. According to the Governor of the Donetsk region, Sergei Taruta, during the week the power supply and communication will be completely restored in these cities, as well as the payment of pensions and social benefits will begin.
Representatives of the separatists claim that Ukrainian aviation strikes the suburbs of Lugansk. Speaking on Sunday at a rally of supporters of the “DPR” in Donetsk, the leader of the Novorossiya movement Pavel Gubarev announced the readiness of the militias to wage a partisan war around the entire perimeter of the city.
In Kiev on Sunday, they said goodbye to the Maidan activist, 53-year-old Yuri Sidorchuk , who died from the wounds received on February 18.
For more than four months, Yuri Sidorchuk tried to save Czech doctors in the military hospital of the city of Olomouc. On Sunday in the center of Kyiv, the next "People’s Veche" was held, whose participants called not to disassemble the barricades until all the necessary evidence in the case of the shooting "Berkut" at the protesting winter of this year is collected. People chased: "Heroes do not die."