‘Tragedy similar to WWII' Ukraine warned Russia battle for Donbas to 'go on for months'
UKRAINE must brace themselves for "a grand assault" from Russian forces that could "go on for months", a Ukrainian reporter has claimed, following claims that they have been amassing troops and supplies "for weeks".
Ukraine: Expert details Russia’s ‘ground assault’
Asami Terajima, from the English-language publication The Kyiv Independent, warned that Russia has launched a wide-scale offensive in the Donbas regions of Ukraine. The information comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned that a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive” in the Donbas area.
Ms Terajima told GB News: “Russia has launched a grand assault in the eastern Donbas where for weeks it has been amassing troops and supplies.
“We can predict a very heavy assault that will go on for months.”
Echoing Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s address to NATO, Ms Terajima added that the scale of this conflict will be comparable to previous world wars.
She said: “The thirty days we will see in this battle of Donbas will be similar to one we saw during World War II.”
The city of Kreminna in the Luhansk area is believed to be the first victim of Russian assault as regional governor Serhiy Gaidai confirmed it had been captured today.
Mr Gaidai said in a briefing this morning: “Kreminna is under the control of the ‘Orcs’ (Russians). They have entered the city. Our defenders had to withdraw.
“It is impossible to calculate the number of dead among the civilian population. We have official statistics – about 200 dead – but in reality, there are many more.”
Writing on his official Telegram channel on Monday, he claimed: “The Russians opened fire on a car with civilians. Four people died.”
Russia has denied claims that they targeted civilians in Kreminna.
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Beginning on Monday, Putin’s forces advanced along a boomerang-shaped front stretching more than 300 miles in the east of Ukraine, hitting a total of 1,260 military targets, according to Russian officials.
They said forces had hit multiple areas with missiles, including the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.
At least three people were killed and sixteen left injured following the bombing of the city, regional governer Oleh Synehyubov said.
The city’s mayor Igor Terekhov also claimed Russians were “targeting peaceful civilians” on Monday.
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Some Ukrainian officials seem confident in the face of the assault, with the presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych saying he gave a “99 percent guarantee” that Russia will fail.
While Kreminna has fallen, officials say the Ukrainian frontline in Donbas is still holding.
But plumes of smoke were seen above the Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol this morning, where remaining Ukrainian forces are believed to be stationed.
The city is a vital stronghold on the Sea of Azov that could be used as a springboard to attack northwards should Russian forces lay claim to it.