While Russia no longer hides its military presence at Donbass, the Ukrainian units have for instructions not to respond to enemy provocations.
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The traces of eight years of war are visible where the look is carried. In Pisky, ten kilometers northwest of Donetsk, not a house, not a building that is disfigured by the projectiles drawn by the Prorusses. This lugubre painting resulting from incessant artillery duels could soon turn to the apocalyptic landscape, while the Ukrainian military are preparing for a large Russian offensive.
Pisky is close to Donetsk’s ravaged airport, where the first Prorusses positions are positioned, and now Russians. Since Tuesday, February 22, Moscow no longer hides his military presence in Ukrainian territory.
“I think Russia will launch an offensive to occupy all the regions of Donetsk and Louhansk [under the control of separatists and now recognized” independent “by Moscow] or even beyond”, Ensures Major Pavlo Yurtchuk, commander of 21 e SARMAT motorized infantry battalion deployed in Pisky. “My soldiers and I pursue, let us think that we do not mass against a border to do nothing. I do not know what international rule governs this situation, but I am sure it is illegal to concentrate a Such a quantity of troops at the borders of a country to which you have not officially declared the war. “
The Major, a milf bearded measuring two meters, receives Le Monde in the cellar of a five-storey building built in the Soviet era. The brigade HQ is equipped with computers and a large television screen, where a detailed map of the region appears. On the ground, various ammunition crates and two javelins, American portable anti-rail missile launcher recently delivered to Ukraine. Renowned very effective against Russian armor, they must in principle have a deterrent effect in case of terrestrial offensive.
“We will have a lot of trouble holding the ground”
Pavlo Yurtchuk confirms the official setpoint received by all Ukrainian soldiers: do not respond to enemy provocations and camper in a strictly defensive posture. Moscow accuses Kiev’s army to prepare a reconquest of his own territory to the Russian border, which would constitute in the eyes of the Kremlin a Casus Belli.
Pensive and pressed, the battalion commander says to expect a Russian offensive on three axes (North, East, South) and a significant use of the air forces. “It would be stupid for the Russians – and for us too – not to use aviation”. The aerospace forces and Russian tactical missiles are the obsession of the Ukrainian army, which does not have sufficiently advanced anti-aircraft defense systems to counter this threat.
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