North of Donetsk, for eight years, the only front line “eye to eye”

2022-05-25T08:11:19.367Z

The special operation, as the Kremlin says, has entered its 4th month, and it could well last longer. Russia said on Tuesday it was determined to achieve all of its "goals", stepping up its offensive...

Report

North of Donetsk, for eight years, the only front line “eye to eye”

Audio 01:29

A man in the middle of the rubble of a house in Donetsk, May 19, 2022. AP - Alexei Alexandrov

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The special operation, as the Kremlin says, has entered its 4th month, and it could well last longer.

Russia said on Tuesday it was determined to achieve all its "goals", stepping up its offensive against the last pocket of resistance in the Luhansk region of Donbass.

Each time, the same strategy: intense shelling of artillery from a distance before entering villages and towns.

Except in the north of the agglomeration of Donetsk: for eight years it has been a front line with close trenches.

This is the only “eye to eye” front line.

Report with the separatist forces.

With our special correspondent,

Anissa El Jabri

Two isolated stone houses, almost lost in thick woods, along a dirt path.

A few hundred meters away, the end of the forest and the plain, the first trenches;

it is here that the battle of the northern front of this part of Donbass is played out.

The area is constantly monitored by drones, and on a clear day it's an almost eye-to-eye confrontation.

For eight years, barely a hundred meters have separated enemy soldiers.

The command post is buried in the trees, behind an anonymous colored metal gate.

2015: A member of the forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic marches on a tank during a military exercise outside the Torez settlement in the Donetsk region.

REUTERS/Alexander Ermoshenko

“

The troops have been here for quite a long time, there are trenches, shelters, firing posts, everything necessary for defense,

explains a member of the separatist forces.

Our enemy has a lot of different weapons: small arms, grenade launchers, automatic rifles, anti-tank missiles, and all that they actively use on a daily basis.
Result: it shoots here absolutely every day.
For now, the front line is still, no one is moving anywhere.
Of course I hope that will change soon and that we will move the front line.

The fierce and intense fighting is taking place tens of kilometers behind these trenches, but anticipating a battle here, the authorities have already asked civilians to evacuate the area.

They are already few in number to live between the few villages, the chemical plant and the mines still in operation.

The direct road to Donetsk is often closed due to bombardment;

to take it when it is open, it is often to run the risk to roll foot to the floor on several tens of kilometers so much the alerts with the shootings of missiles are frequent.

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North of Donetsk, for eight years, the only front line “eye to eye”

North of Donetsk, for eight years, the only front line “eye to eye”

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