- Moscow asks Ukraine to "recognize the existing situation" and Zelensky refuses to reach peace in exchange for territories.
- Russian Bombing In Kharkiv Causes Nine Deaths, Including A Five-Month-Old Baby
 |
| Russia has bombed a total of 41 towns in Donbas./ Pixabay |
The war continues in Ukraine, and in Donbas, in the east of the country, the attacks are intensifying daily. Since Russia withdrew its troops from Kyiv and the north of the country more than a month ago, the objective has been focused on definitively conquering the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. In the latter, a city has been receiving the full force of the Russian Army for several days: Sievierdonetsk. Russia is trying to surround the city because its fall, as the administrative center of Lugansk, would leave control of the entire region in its hands, which they already control 95% of its territory.
In the last few hours, Russia has bombed a total of 41 towns in Donbas. As a result of these attacks, at least six people have died and another 12 have been injured, according to data published by the Ukrainian Army. The part of the Ukrainian General Staff points to "massive bombings" in both Sievierodonetsk and Slovyansk and points out that "the enemy does not stop carrying out offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone and continues to launch missiles and airstrikes against infrastructure facilities in Ukraine".
Meanwhile, in Donetsk, the main efforts are focused on two strategic positions: "Taking full control of the village of Lyman and trying to improve the tactical position near Sievierodonetsk and Avdivka", they point out.
According to the latest report by the Institute for the Study of War (an American think tank), Russian forces prioritized advances east and west of Popasna, to cut Ukraine's landlines of communication southwest of Sievierodonetsk and complete efforts to fence in the Lugansk region. In addition, they claim that the city of Zaporizhia has been attacked in an attempt to take down a key logistics hub for Ukrainian military forces operating in the east.
In the same sense, Russia has assured this Thursday that it has destroyed with high-precision missiles a Ukrainian electronic intelligence center in the Mykoláiv region, in the south. According to the Russian authorities, 11 Ukrainian soldiers and 15 foreign technicians were killed in the attack.
'Desucranizar' of the occupied zones
On the other hand, in the south of Donbas, the city of Mariupol is beginning to live under Russian control, after last week the last fighters in the city surrendered to Russia. According to Petro Andriushchenko, advisor to the mayor of this coastal city, the new Russian authorities have decided to extend the current school year over the next few months in order to apply a new "Russian curriculum" as soon as possible.
According to the adviser, the "Russian enemies" try to "de-Ukraine" the country's children: "There are no holidays. Their main goal is to 'de-Ukrainize' schoolchildren and prepare them for the Russian curriculum that they will have to take on next year. school". Throughout the summer, they will have to study the Russian language, literature and history, and mathematics in the Russian language, he explained.
"That Russia introduces the ruble, Russian law and Russian authorities is normal, because they are occupied zones and the objective is that they end up being annexed"
Since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the Ukrainian authorities have denounced that the Russian Army is implanting its administrations and organizational systems in those regions that it is occupying.
For several months now, the inhabitants of Kherson, the first large city conquered by Russia in the south of the country, have been warning of some impositions by the pro-Russian authorities who had taken power.
Some of these changes have already occurred in the separatist areas of Donbas, which have been fighting Ukraine for more than eight years. According to Antonio Alonso, professor of International Relations at CEU San Pablo University, the citizens of these regions "have been at war for years and are already accustomed to dealing with rubles, perhaps not officially, but they have rubles." Likewise, Alonso points out that "exchanges across the border with Russia have increased in the last eight years."
"Kyiv has to recognize the 'de facto' situation"
On whether the Donbas can be part of the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian president, Volodomir Zelensky, has responded this Thursday to an idea presented in Davos by the former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. In a conference offered in this forum, Kissinger proposed that peace be reached with Russia by ceding Donbas to them. Zelenski compared this formula with what happened with Nazi Germany in 1938, which did not curb its expansionist appetite.
Kissinger had assured that "the negotiations must begin in the next two months before it generates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo before."
Regarding this controversy, the Kremlin on Thursday called on the Government of Ukraine to "recognize the situation" existing on the ground and accept its demands in order to reach an agreement. The spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dimitri Peskov, stated that "Kyiv has to recognize the 'de facto' situation and assess it soberly."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko acknowledged on Wednesday that the Ukrainian president's statements on the conditions for resuming the negotiation process "are not constructive." "If you are now setting conditions, it makes us doubt the sincerity of your desire to find a peaceful solution (to the conflict)," he valued.