Over the past one and a half to two weeks, the noise background in Donetsk has returned its inhabitants to the first years of the war. The intensity of shelling of the capital and other settlements of the republic increased several times. On April 6, a representative of the DPR in the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC) told reporters that over the past week, Ukrainian security forces violated the ceasefire in Donbass 148 times. During this period, 616 mines and shells of 120, 82 and 122 mm caliber were fired on the territory of the republic. Damaged 38 houses and eight infrastructure.
The UN report, which was released on April 9, said that in March 19 cases of deaths or injuries of civilians were recorded. This is 280% more than in February. This is probably not entirely accurate data, since on April 7, the LPR People’s Militia press service disseminated information that as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian side, three civilians were killed and 15 were injured. In addition, hundreds of houses were damaged, shells and mines regularly damage power lines, which is why a number of villages were left without electricity.
Yesterday, the tragedy occurred in Gorlovka, as reported by the mayor of the city, Ivan Prikhodko. He talked about the death of a young woman and the wounding of a man: “Wide Beam (a village on the outskirts of Gorlovka). Shelling. Died a young girl born in 1994. The drone dropped mines ... The girl died on the way to the hospital. And a man born in 1960, a shrapnel wound to the neck, chest, auricle on the left and a penetrating wound to the lung, was wounded. Now he’s in the operating room. ”
You need to understand that the drone operator usually sees who or what it drops mines on. To do this, a camera is installed on the device, equipped with a zoom with a high zoom ratio, or even several. That is, apparently, people in the zone of fire destruction were not at all accidental. The blow was delivered quite deliberately.
It’s not easy to understand what is happening. Vladimir Zelensky, as shown by numerous opinion polls, won the presidential election thanks to his promises to end the war in the Donbass. Nevertheless, the hostilities are not only not stopped - the activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the demarcation line has been growing significantly in recent months, and the last two weeks have set records on the damage done, the number of dead and wounded. Does the Ukrainian president manage these processes, or are his security forces leading an independent party, ignoring Zelensky’s intention to silence the guns?
Based on the strange, but already established managerial style of the head of the Ukrainian state, we can assume that, most likely, things are left to chance.
In the ruling team, in the Zelensky faction in the Verkhovna Rada there are enough people who are usually called the party of war. These are, first of all, the so-called pigs and nationalists, who some time ago sent an appeal to the president stating that the implementation of the Minsk agreements was unacceptable for Ukraine. This community of deputies is called the “Group of 60”. Actually, the repeated demands to change the formula of the Minsk agreements are the favorable political background on which the Ukrainian security officials, who consider it necessary to conduct the war to a victorious end, feel quite confident.
There is another obvious point in this story. Ukraine is gradually losing its centralized management system. The centers of a separate and independent force that does not want to reckon with Kiev are the regional authorities, ministries and departments. This is mainly due to the heterogeneity of the ruling team, which paralyzes the political will. Zelensky’s environment is Tianitolkai, all four legs of which go in opposite directions. Under these conditions, the army withdraws from submission to the commander in chief, who is not very disposed to command it.
The war party and the right-wing radicals clearly gain the upper hand, despite the fact that their social support is scanty. They lost the presidential and parliamentary elections. Nevertheless, the president certainly does not disregard their threats to bring the country into a new “Maidan”. Many Ukrainian political scientists and experts point out that he is afraid of radical activists and every time leaves from the conflict with them. He has to do this due to the actual refusal to act in accordance with the program announced during the election campaign. Nothing that was promised was fulfilled - the world did not come nearer, but moved away, the education system continues to be rebuilt according to the law adopted by Poroshenko, which means that the Russian language remains under repressive pressure.
Plus, everything in Ukraine is a real economic collapse. There is no money to fight the coronavirus epidemic, about 100 thousand migrant workers who have lost their jobs have returned from abroad. There will be nothing for them to do at home, respectively, they will not be able to feed themselves or their loved ones. The state is not able to help them. Hryvnia is flying down. How hundreds of thousands of people will survive is completely unclear. There are almost no states, but there is an army. And she already every day reminds herself of Donbass.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.