The DPR Head Denis Pushilin has signed the decree on mobilization on Saturday morning calling on “all males capable to take up arms to rise to protect their families, children, wives, and mothers.”
The head of the Donetsk People’s Republic has called on all able men to stand up to “Kiev’s aggression”
The leaders of the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine announced on Saturday that they ordered the mobilization of all able men in response to massive shelling along the frontline.
“I urge compatriots who are in the [army] reserve to come to military enlistment offices,” DPR head Denis Pushilin said in a video address. “I call on all men in the republic capable of carrying arms to stand in defense of their families, their children, wives, mothers.”
Pushilin said the DPR will “hold off Kiev’s aggression.” He added that DPR forces were responding to shelling by the Ukrainian Army.
The DPR said that Kiev began shelling villages along the frontline with heavy artillery on Thursday, and the barrage continued throughout Friday and on Saturday morning.
The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, accused the DPR of violating the ceasefire dozens of times on Friday and shelling multiple villages in Kiev-controlled areas.
Alexey Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, denied that Kiev was planning to attack the DPR and the neighboring Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).
Fearing further escalation, the DPR and LPR started evacuating civilians to Russia on Friday.
Evgeny Katsavalov, a senior government official in Lugansk, said 25,000 people have already left the LPR for Russia. He added that the authorities are in the process of organizing the evacuation of 10,000 residents, including 100 children from two orphanages.
DPR to keep looking for diplomatic settlement despite Kiev’s narrative – Nikonorova
“With a worsening escalation, in no case should the negotiation process be suspended. On the contrary, the negotiations need to be even more intensified in order to avoid the risks of a further escalation and its catastrophic consequences. At least, it is a logical approach if there is an interest in a peaceful and diplomatic settlement. For us, negotiators of the DPR, it is a top priority,” Nikonorova said.
She also expressed regret that the representatives of Ukraine have other priorities in this regard. She added that the DPR, in turn, will use every opportunity to make Kiev return to the negotiations table, “to find ways to resolve the contradiction together in a civilized dialogue, not at the cost of human lives.”
The Additional Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire were signed at the Contact Group meeting on July 22 to reinforce and control the indefinite ceasefire in effect since July 21, 2019, the latest in the series of more than 20 reconfirmation and announcements of the “silence regime”. The package came into effect on July 27