Route clutches: why Kiev is attacking civilians in new regions
In recent days, amid setbacks at the front, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have intensified attacks on civilians in new regions of Russia. Civilian objects and cars on highways come under fire. So, on the eve of a drone attack in the DPR, a bus and a car with a family were attacked. In this regard, the heads of the regions called on residents and guests to exercise extreme caution when traveling. According to experts interviewed by Izvestia, the enemy is increasing the intensity of attacks due to the supply of European drones. Russian troops, in turn, protect facilities and communications with the help of air defense posts and mobile firing groups.
Peaceful routes are under the gun
Constantly faced with setbacks on the front line, the Kiev regime has changed tactics, according to experts interviewed by Izvestia. Now, the main target of Ukrainian drones is increasingly not military installations, but ordinary people: regular buses, food trucks, and peaceful neighborhoods in Donbass, Novorossiya, and the Azov region.
It all started with massive raids on the night of May 22, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit a college in Starobilsk with drones. Then, as a result of the Ukrainian terrorist attack, 21 people were killed, and more than 40 were injured. Most of those killed and injured are young people and teenagers.
As military expert Vasily Dandykin explained to Izvestia, shifting the focus to civilian targets is a deliberate strategy of intimidation.
A spontaneous memorial near the dormitory building of the Starobilsk Vocational College of Lugansk State Pedagogical University (LGPU) after the attack of Ukrainian drones
— This is an absolutely terrorist activity. Now, among other things, they are using the tactics of "waiting drones": drones are planted along the roads in standby mode," he said. — When the operator sees a target, he picks up the device and points it at civilian vehicles, motorcycles or buses. They have only one task — to create an atmosphere of panic and despondency among the local population. But our military is already finding effective ways to combat this threat.
According to military expert Viktor Litovkin, the brutality of the strikes is directly related to the need to report to Western sponsors for multibillion-dollar tranches.
— Kiev and European leaders are not interested in the fact that very young people and rescuers who dismantle the rubble are dying. The cynical principle applies to them: the worse for Russia, the better for them. Ordinary people have long been treated there like dust on a piano," he noted.
Residents of the DPR told Izvestia that key highways have become a special danger zone. The Donetsk–Horlivka highway, which has recently been repaired and expanded, has been under constant surveillance in the DPR. Food trucks and passenger transport regularly come under attack. Several such cases have been recorded in recent days alone. In particular, in the area of Yelenovka (DPR) on May 27, a drone strike attacked a Makeyevka–Sevastopol bus. The passengers miraculously managed to survive. In Gorlovka on the same day, a direct drone strike on a passenger car claimed the lives of an entire family of four.
Consequences of the UAV attack on the Makeyevka –Sevastopol bus in the Elenovka area
Nikita Smirnov, a resident of the Zaporizhia region, shared with Izvestia the story of his family's rescue.
"We were driving along a road we thought was safe when we heard an intrusive buzzing sound," he said. — I immediately braked and ordered everyone to run. We managed to jump into the ravine a second before the explosion — a kamikaze drone struck right next to the car. The pieces went to the side, the windows were broken, but most importantly, everyone was alive.
Earlier, the governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, urged residents and guests of the region to exercise extreme caution when traveling. According to him, in recent days there have been constant attempts by the enemy to attack cars and road facilities.
The head of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, also spoke about logistical terror. According to him, the Ukrainian Armed Forces purposefully use unmanned aerial vehicles against civilians and communal facilities.
Drivers are advised to carefully plan their routes, travel exclusively during daylight hours, avoid stops on open, bullet-riddled sections of the highway, do not approach the wreckage of vehicles or UAVs and immediately call emergency services.
The entire collective West is helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces
On May 27, Gymnasium No. 7 in the city of Svatovo became another target of the terrorist regime in the Luhansk People's Republic. This was stated by the head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces are purposefully attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. This is all you need to know about the criminal Kiev regime," he stressed.
On May 28, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for "a prompt, independent and effective investigation and bringing those responsible to justice" for the tragedy in Starobilsk, as well as "doing everything possible to prevent such incidents from happening again."
Ukrainian drones also staged a real hunt for Russian rescuers. In just a few days, nine employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were injured in the DPR. In Zugres, a drone attacked firefighters right while extinguishing a tank at a gas station — the squad commander was injured. In Makeyevka, eight more employees of the department came under a similar blow when the fire was extinguished. All of them are in hospitals now.
In parallel, attempts to destabilize life in large cities continue. In Sevastopol, an elderly man and a woman were injured after another rocket attack. According to Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev, one of the main targets was the building of the local Central Bank. The enemy was clearly trying to paralyze the financial system of the peninsula, but failed to disrupt the work of the institution.
The scale of the air campaign is explained by the enormous financial and technical support of the West. Military expert Dmitry Kornev stressed that Kiev's announced plan to produce seven million drones of all types for the current year is based on European capacities. Joint ventures have been set up in Poland, Germany and the Baltic states to assemble ready-made machine kits.
— They arrive in Ukraine for final assembly, — Dmitry Kornev noted. — Kiev is trying to systematically and openly terrorize residents in new regions, as openly stated by the Ukrainian authorities, and this problem must be solved comprehensively. In particular, they will open drone assembly points and warehouses with the help of reconnaissance and strike at them, destroy UAV launch sites in real time, and continue to develop a unified air warning system for all drone control posts in the rear.
Arms supplies and support for nationalism in Ukraine show that Europe is trying to take revenge for past historical defeats. They deliberately escalate and commit outright provocations, Viktor Litovkin noted. We need to act extremely harshly, since Kiev's methods are recognized as terrorist, then we must respond appropriately. In the meantime, everyone needs to be extremely careful, especially civilians, who have become one of the priority targets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
