Ukraine: the front line ignites in the Donbass, the bombardments intensify

A Ukrainian soldier near a shell hole in the city of Novoluganské, February 19, 2022. © Oleksandr Ratushniak/AP

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

For the third day in a row, the clashes have redoubled their intensity in the Donbass, where the bombardments experienced their highest level of intensity for several years on Saturday.

This deterioration of the situation comes as diplomatic discussions have stalled, the US administration expects a Russian attack any day, and Germany and France are asking their nationals to leave the country. 'Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the populations of eastern Ukraine are seeing the specter of all-out war return.

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The level of military activity has never been so high for several years, reports this Sunday morning 

our special correspondent in Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region, not far from the front line.

And this observation is confirmed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, which recorded almost 2,000 violations of the ceasefire just yesterday, which is twice more than for the day on Friday, and from the memory of a correspondent, we have not seen such bombings in the Donbass since 2017.

Our correspondent in Ukraine was able to visit the small town of Schastya on Saturday, a town that saw fierce fighting in 2014 and 2015. The town had not been bombed for five years, and when it s There, pro-Russian separatist forces fired 152mm shells at Ukrainian positions near the town, he said. 

In general, it is the entire front line that ignites.

Last night, heavy artillery exchanges resonated in the heart of Donetsk, the separatist capital, and in the Donbass, there are inevitably fears of a runaway in the hours or days to come.

A map of the buffer zone established by the Minsk Protocol during the Donbass war between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists.

Dombask region in green.

© Goran tek-en/Wikimedia.org

Tiredness of the inhabitants

As for the state of mind of the inhabitants he met, our special correspondent in Severodonetsk - who has been covering the Donbass war since its beginnings in 2014 - was able to observe a mixture of real concern, a form of apathy, but also an extreme resilience on the part of the inhabitants of the region.

Eastern Ukrainians have been struggling with this war for eight years now, the bombings are nothing new to them.

His impression is that while Europe's cardiometer is racing, the locals are showing great placidity.

No panic, the shops are open, the cafes in Severodonetsk are full on Saturday evening, but when you take the time to chat with them, all the inhabitants say it: they experience an abyssal weariness and wonder when they are finally going to be able to live in peace.

And the latest news, it's not for tomorrow.

Two soldiers killed, a minister escapes shelling

Sign of the upsurge in violence, mortar shells exploded near the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior, Denys Monastyrsky, during his trip to the front line on Saturday.

The incident caused no injuries and the minister, wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet, later estimated that it was the Ukrainian army, and not him personally, who was targeted.

The minister wanted to demonstrate to journalists the level of preparation of the Ukrainian army by showing them around the trenches. 

The Ukrainian army also reported

and four others injured in the bombardments on Saturday, the worst daily toll in months.

One of them, Anton Sydorov, a 35-year-old captain and father of three, was killed in the morning by a burst of artillery missile near Novolouganské.

"

 ," says a 26-year-old Ukrainian soldier posted near this locality.

This city, just three kilometers from the separatist positions, is one of those gray areas located in the middle of

.

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: the population trains to fight near the Belarusian border (report)

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