Armed fighting escalates in Donbas during the weekend

Armed fighting escalated in the Donbas region this weekend, killing an estimated nine Ukrainian soldiers and wounding 26, according to the pravda.com.ua news site. At least ten pro-Russian fighters were killed, the news site reported. “This provocation doesn’t only have a military, but a political task, which is to accuse the Ukrainian armies of violating the Minsk Accords,” said on Jan. 29 Oleksandr Motuzianyk, a Defense Ministry spokesman. “The enemy didn’t fulfill its goal. The attack failed and the enemy retreated to the east with losses.”

Also during the weekend, firefights erupted in the industrial region of Avdiyivka, the site of Europe’s largest metallurgical coke production plant, as well as the Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk ranges, where pro-Russian forces attacked with Grad missile launchers. On Thursday, Jan. 26, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fighting that involved Grad rocket launchers.

Zenon Zawada: The fighting in Donbas typically escalates when Russian President Putin is involved in international talks. We don’t think it’s a coincidence that the escalation occurred just as he had his first talks with President Trump on Saturday. That way, Western media report on such talks and include information on escalated fighting in Donbas. Such news reports contribute to “Ukraine fatigue” among the Western public, in our view, even though Ukrainians are not necessarily responsible. These reports can also be used to feed the Russian narrative that it’s the Ukrainian side not abiding by the Minsk Accords.