Donbass: A smoldering conflict develops into an active phase

The fighting  in the Donetsk republics is tense to the limit. The shelling does not subside either day or evening. This is one of the most severe exacerbations in recent years.

The number of destruction is rapidly multiplying, civilians are injured, the defenders of Donbass are dying.

In the LPR, three villages at once came under the fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The shelling practically destroyed the industrial-pedagogical technical school of the city of Pervomaisk. The building of the educational institution cannot be restored. The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired at the city from self-propelled guns with 152 mm shells.

 A resident of the village of Dolgoe, Slavyanoserbsk district of the LPR, was seriously wounded as a result of shelling of the village. In the DPR, Ukrainian soldiers fired 120 mm mortars at the village of Vasilyevka, where the pumping station that supplies water to a part of the DPR is located. In the Petrovsky district and Kievsky districts of Donetsk, the morning begins to the sound of mine explosions and howitzer cannonade.

The outskirts of the city, the villages of Staromikhaylovka and Aleksandrovka are massively fired from 120 mm mortars several times a day. The town of Yasinovataya was fired with 122 mm shells. As a result of the shelling in Yasinovataya, the fire and rescue unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR was damaged. There were 20 employees at that time. They managed to go down to the shelter. "As a result of direct hits, the dining room and the personnel rest room were damaged, the glazing on both sides of the building was damaged," said the head of the fire and rescue unit.

 This fire department works in the most dangerous and shelled area - from the village of Krasny Partizan to the village of Spartak near Donetsk. During the war, a part of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was shelled repeatedly, but received such serious damage only in 2014.

In the evening, Ukrainian militants began shelling Gorlovka with all calibers - heavy artillery, mortars, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns. The intensity of the fire did not subside for about six hours in a row. Almost all parts of the city heard shells exploding and gunfire. According to local residents, in some areas, for example, near Mayorsk, long battles began.

In the south of the DPR, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to build on their success and build new bridgeheads from the territories they have seized near Staromaryevka.

OSCE observers reported on the guidance of pontoons across the Kalmius River in their report: “200 meters south-west of the pontoon bridge on the outskirts of Granitnoye, an OSCE mission drone recorded concrete slabs under water across the Kalmius River. This is assessed as a likely road crossing. "

Earlier, observers noted that their drone showed a pontoon bridge over Kalmius. He was injured as a result of the fighting. Also, according to the OSCE report, a new system of trenches of the Ukrainian army was recorded 800 meters east of Granite and Kalmius in the neutral zone.

 It consists of a 40-meter trench with 4 newly equipped firing positions and underground dugouts, as well as a 25-meter trench with a firing position, a 15-meter trench system, tents are also located nearby, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces dugouts are being arranged.

These systems of trenches east of the Kalmius River are a forward movement, which has reduced the distance between the forward positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the forward positions of the DPR's armed formations in this area from 1.7 km to 900 m, ”the mission said.

People in the Donetsk republics again live in the epicenter of active hostilities. They experience colossal fatigue from expecting even worse, like the residents of Staromaryevka, whose village has been seized by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

 In the neighboring village of Novomaryevka, people leave their homes, few remain. One elderly woman said: "Give me a machine gun, I will cut these soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, I hate them so much for everything that they arranged for our neighbors and my fellow countrymen."

 After the tragedy in Staromaryevka, where people woke up and saw that the Ukrainian flag was suddenly hanging over the village, many residents of the front-line areas took the situation on themselves and believe that Ukrainian militants would gradually fight off settlements in the DPR and LPR one after another.

  The allies of Ukraine are throwing firewood into the furnace of war. The Verkhovna Rada approved an intergovernmental agreement with Turkey on deepening cooperation, under which Ankara pledged to provide $ 18.5 million for military inquiries in Kiev.

 Recently, the United States at the official level promised to provide Ukraine with satellite reconnaissance data for strikes on Donbass. Previously, this was done covertly, along the lines of Ukrainian and American intelligence.

 Now US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has confirmed his readiness to transfer intelligence data from his satellites to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thanks to them, Kiev will be able to receive detailed and complete information about the military reserves of the DPR and LPR. This information is usually needed to plan an attack.

 Also, the head of the Pentagon promised to transfer additional weapons to Kiev and provide Ukraine with military cover. Now ships of the US Navy will often enter the Black Sea region. “This is to advance our shared priority of countering Russian aggression and deepen our cooperation and intelligence sharing,” Austin said.

Behind the words of the US Secretary of Defense, one can see an attempt to push Ukraine towards the beginning of a full-scale war in Donbass.

Having received information from American satellites, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to use them to deliver strikes by all means, including the Tochka-U tactical missile system.

During a meeting between the head of the Pentagon and Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov, who visited the United States last week, they discussed building up Ukraine's military potential. Austin assured him that American ships would remain in the Black Sea and that the United States, together with Ukraine, would resist Russian aggression.

And on November 19, a delegation led by the Army Attaché at the US Embassy in Ukraine, Colonel Bradley Presley, visited the front near Donetsk - in the area of ​​the village of Peski and the city of Marinka, as well as in the Azov region.

 Representatives of the US Embassy and the commander of the combined forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Anatoly Shevchenko, on the spot got acquainted with the current situation in Donbass, assessed the combat situation in reality and checked the combat readiness of the Ukrainian soldiers.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to pull heavy weapons and equipment to the line of contact. OSCE observers record trains with tanks and artillery mounts at railway stations in Kiev-controlled Donbass.

The approaches to the DPR and LPR are literally packed with Ukrainian artillery and armored vehicles. And it is no coincidence that four times in a month the US government delivered three consignments of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine to continue the hostilities in Donbass. Each batch was valued at $ 60 million.