Kyiv Warns Of “New Actions” In Donetsk – Despite reports of Russia taking an “operational pause” in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s government warned this weekend that Russian troops are expected to take “new actions” in the region very soon.
Ukrainian officials said that the Kremlin is preparing to order troops to take new military action in the region and that Russian shelling has continued in the eastern Donbas region as well as in Kharkiv Oblast in the north-east. No ground offensives have been recorded in recent days, however, except in Dolomitne, Bakhmut.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the eyes of the world’s aggressive regimes are now on Russia, and the aggressive strikes its army continues to make against Ukrainian urban population centers.
“The eyes of all aggressive political movements and regimes in the world are now on what Russia is doing to us,” Zelenskyy said in an Instagram post on Saturday. “Will the world be able to bring the real war criminals to justice?”
Conflict Continues
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that a fire broke out in Chasiv Yar following a Russian shelling on Saturday.
According to a post by the State Emergency Service on Facebook, Russian forces struck the city of Bakhmutsk in Donetsk Oblast at 4:50am local time. The claim was confirmed by Donetsk Oblast Military Administration chief Pavlo Kyrylenko, who said on Telegram that multiple people were injured in the strike.
“Four ‘incomings’ in Druzhkivka. According to preliminary information, this is a missile strike. A hospital, a cultural centre, residential buildings and a playground were damaged. We are investigating information about victims,” Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
“In Sloviansk, an enemy shell hit a private house – the owner was buried under the rubble, and rescuers are still working on site. In Chasiv Yar, the Russians fired at a railway station – several people received light concussions.”
Several people were pulled from under the rubble, and photographs of the aftermath of the strike show emergency workers desperately working to put out fires in buildings that have not yet been reduced to rubble.
Reuters also shared photographs from additional strikes on residential buildings in Kramatorsk on July 7. The photographs show residential buildings torn apart by the strikes, and victims lying on the ground. Ukrainian soldiers are also seen checking the remains of a Russian missile inside of a crater left in the ground in Kramatorsk.
While an “operational pause” looks to be in the cards, Russian soldiers are not expected to completely end military operations in Ukraine’s east and further strikes are expected in the coming days and weeks.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.