20.02.2022, Moscow.
The Ukrainian army has a serious numerical superiority, but Donbass has been preparing for a full-scale aggression for years, military expert and editor of the magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland Aleksey Leonkov told Rossa Primavera News Agency.
The expert is sure that nothing is predetermined in advance because Donbass has been preparing for Ukrainian aggression for many years.
“They have been preparing for this for eight years,” the expert said, responding to the question of whether Donbass has the ability to defend itself.
“As far as I know, Pushilin and Pasechnik have now announced a gathering of all combat veterans. Who, of course, are no longer in the units now, but they already held a preliminary training camp back in the spring of last year,” Leonkov explained.
The expert noted that the Ukrainian army has entered the phase of preparation for a general offensive. The situation is complicated by the numerical superiority of the enemy. Ukraine has almost six-fold superiority in manpower and firepower, so it will be quite difficult for the defenders of Donbass to concentrate forces at the place of the main strike of the Ukrainian army.
“In principle, this is what the enemy is counting on,” Leonkov noted, adding that the Ukrainian army is likely to try in every way to deceive the troops of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, trying to divert them from the direction of the main strike. Such tactics were used, for example, by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh.
The situation in Donbass began to escalate on February 17. According to the DPR and LPR authorities, the current shelling by Ukraine is the most intense in recent months. The Ukrainian army is shelling Donbass territory using heavy weapons also.
Amid the escalation, the DPR and LPR announced the start of the evacuation of civilians to Russia on February 18. The acting head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, Aleksandr Chupriyan, said that at least 26 of Russia’s 85 regions were ready to accommodate the arrivals.
On February 19, general mobilization was announced in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
“I appeal to all the men of the republic who are capable of holding weapons, to stand up to defend their families, their children, their wives, their mothers. Together we will achieve the desired and necessary victory for all of us. We will protect Donbass and all Russian people,” said Denis Pushilin, head of the DPR, in a video message.
The republics’ economies are being transferred to wartime conditions. Units of the LPR People’s Militia, as well as other military and special formations, have been ordered to be brought to full combat readiness. In addition, it has been instructed to ensure that these formations are staffed according to wartime regulations. A ban was also imposed on men aged 18 to 55 years old to leave the territory of the LPR.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
