Russia dispatching more soldiers, armored vehicles to Donetsk, Luhansk

The city of Luhansk (population 424,000) has been marred by intense fighting with the Russian government having dispatched 40 units of armored vehicles, reported on Aug. 19 Dmytro Tymchuk, the coordinator of the Information Resistance website. “We can’t say at the moment how a column of equipment broke through the line of defense, taking into account that Luhansk is encircled by a ring of roadblocks and support bases for the forces of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO),” he said. Luhansk ATO Commander Ihor Voronchenko confirmed arrival of new heavy arms to the city. In Donetsk, (population 950,000), Grad rocket launchers are being set up in the city and random shootings are occurring, reported the Novosti Donbassa news site on Aug. 29, citing eyewitness accounts.

Zenon Zawada: Russia is moderately escalating the fighting, but we don’t see any change in strategy. Moreover, the random shootings reported by the local population demonstrate that the separatist forces are no longer counting on local citizen support and are not planning to stay in the cities for a long time. Therefore, the momentum remains on the Ukrainian side.