At least two dozen casualties reported in Donbas fighting this week

Warfare in Ukraine’s Donbas region remained intense
this week, resulting in at least five deaths and 23 injuries among Ukrainian
soldiers, according to the press center of the Joint Forces Operation. At least
19 casualties and 15 injuries were inflicted among the Russian-backed fighters,
the center said. Ukrainian forces were fired upon at least 80 times, at least
39 incidents of which involved armaments forbidden by the Minsk Accords, the
center said. Seven tanks and six anti-aircraft missile systems are positioned
at the Luhansk airport, according to an Apr. 8 report by the OSCE.

Zenon Zawada: The Russian military doesn’t control everything that happens in
Donbas, but it certainly directs the general course of events. And we are
confident that the intense fighting in recent weeks is at least partly intended
to influence the presidential election results. The Ukrainian public is
exhausted from five years of warfare with no major victories or achievements in
recent years, as had been intended by Russian president Putin from the outset.
Now the strategy is bearing fruit with a presidential candidate (Zelenskiy)
calling for immediate peace, and possible capitulation, on the verge of
unseating president Poroshenko.