All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).
To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.
Visit and follow us on Instagram at @globalresearch_crg.
***
The failure of the information campaign aimed at provoking an armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine on February 15-16 did not bring the Ukrainian regime and its patrons to their senses.
Since the night of February 16, the shelling of the DPR and LPR by the UAF has sharply intensified. By the afternoon of February 17, the frequency of the attacks reached the intensity of 2014-2015.
(some of the Videos are dysfunctional scroll down for text and analysis)
Today, the UAF artillery carried out 18 massive attacks on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). For example, during one of these attacks on the village of Shakhty Izotov, 16 mines were fired from an 82mm mortar launchers. In total, about 300 rounds of heavy artillery and mortars were fired.
For example, in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), the following attacks were recorded in just one hour:
- at 7.55 p.m Katerinovka – Molodezhnoye: AGS-17 (8 shots);
- at 8.15 p.m. Zolotoe 4 – Zolotoe 5: ATGM (2 shots), SPG-9 (3 shots);
- at 8.35 p.m Geevka – Slavyanoserbsk: AGS-17 ( 25 shots);
- at 9.10 p.m. Crimean – Sokolniki: SPG-9 (4 shots), heavy machine gun.
On the night of February 18, the shelling intensified. This night may become a decisive one.
According to some recent reports, a complete evacuation from the village of Alexandrovka near Donetsk has been announced. All the civilians were ordered to leave the village.
On the night of February 18, fighting continued on almost all front lines: Donetsk, Gorlovka, Debaltseve-Svetlodarsk, Pervomaiskaoe, Western part of the Bakhmutka highway.
Tanks and heavy artillery of the UAF began theirs attempts to break through the defense positions near the village of Nikolaevka.
At about 1 a.m. local time, the mobile network was cut off in some of the front regions under the UAF control.
The OSCE has recorded numerous shellings by the UAF along the front lines. The UN Deputy Secretary General said that the current escalation is the largest since 2014.
The Western MSM continue to escalate the situation by publishing paint-styled maps showing the ways of the Russian invasion of the territory of Ukraine.
The White House declares “Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine.”
Everything may seem logical. The situation on the front lines has significantly escalated, Russia replied that it was not satisfied with the U.S. response to the proposal of the security guarantees in Europe. But the ground facts are that all attacks on civilian objects on February 17 were carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In its turn, on the morning of February 17, Kiev published fake videos and photos that allegedly showed a shell fired by the LPR militants hit a kindergarten in Stanytsia Luhanska.
A few hours later, these statements were exposed by objective geo-analysis, which made it possible to calculate the trajectory of the projectile and revealed that the shot was carried out from the territory under the Kiev control, particularly from the deployment site of the UAF 79th brigade. It is also suspicious that the windows were not broken.
On the afternoon of February 17, the LPR announced the arrival of Western journalists to the Kiev-controlled part of Donbass to provide “informational support for the UAF offensive operation”. According to the same scheme that the West tried to apply in 2008 in Georgia, foreign journalists in the Donbass region have the task of covering the Ukrainian offensive on the territory of the republics in the “right” way.
Foreign reporters in the kindergarten:
At the same time, a significant part of the Russian military forces that conducted military exercises in the Russia’s Western regions returned to their permanent location in other Russian regions, including Siberia and the Far East.
Apparently, it was the withdrawal of part of the Russian troops from the West of the country, including Crimea, that triggered the aggressive actions of the Kiev regime.
Kiev considered that Russia had demonstrated weakness in the face of the United States and its allies, and now there is a unique chance to solve several Ukrainian problems at once by military methods. At the same time, it does not matter whether the military fortune will be on the Kiev’s side during the battles in the East of the country.
At the cost of thousands of lives of Ukrainians, both citizens of Ukraine and residents of the DPR/LPR, the Kiev regime is trying to keep the U.S. front going, receive new multibillion-dollar financial support from the United States and NATO countries, kill as many civilians in the DPR/LPR as possible and divert the attention of its own citizens and military personnel from the catastrophic socio-economic situation in the country.
It doesn’t matter what the end result is. In any case, the MSM propaganda machine will show the picture that the Kiev regime and their overseas patrons need.
The bonus for Zelensky will be that, by sacrificing his country, he will ensure the guaranteed death of the most passionate serviceman of the Ukrainian army, who could well turn their bayonets against him. A significant part of the motivated UAF servicemen who are currently deployed in the East of the country consists of nationalist extremists from the Western regions. In Ukrainian domestic political solitaire, they are the ones who pose a dangerous threat to Zelensky’s rule.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian war is inevitable, the last questions are the date and the consequences for Europe.
*
Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Follow us on Instagram, @globalresearch_crg. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
SUPPORT SOUTHFRONT:
PayPal: [email protected], http://southfront.org/donate/ or via: https://www.patreon.com/southfront
All images in this article are from SF
