DONETSK, Ukraine Feb 24 (Reuters) – At least five explosions were heard in the separatist-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk early on Thursday, a Reuters witness said.
Following the blasts, four military trucks could be seen heading for the scene. Hours earlier, the Kremlin said two separatist breakaway regions in Ukraine had asked for Russian help to repel aggression by the Ukrainian army.
Blasts have been reported in several Ukraine cities, as Moscow launched a “special operation” in Donbass. Explosions have been reported across Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation in Donbass.
A series of explosions have been reported across Ukraine, with eyewitnesses saying blasts have occurred near a number of major cities as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order authorizing a “special military operation” in the Donbass region.
The report came moments after Putin announced the military operation on behalf of the newly recognized breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, where a military conflict has raged between separatist forces and the Ukrainian government for years.
Blasts were also reportedly heard in Kharkov, some 400km (250 miles) east of Kiev, closer to the border with the Donbass. AFP separately reported an explosion in the coastal city of Mariupol, a major port held by Kiev’s forces in the Donetsk region.
Now hearing jets over Belgorod. Possibly flying towards the Kharkiv area. #CNN #Russia #Ukraine
— Frederik Pleitgen (@fpleitgenCNN) February 24, 2022
The scope of the Russian military operation in Ukraine was not immediately clear. A Reuters reporter in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, heard explosions which sounded like artillery shelling in the distance soon after Putin had finished speaking.
Explosions heard in port city (Image:REUTERS)
Putin said Russia would respond instantly if any external force tried to interfere and that Moscow would try to de-militarise and ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine.
“Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of modern Ukraine,” said Putin.
Donbass Republics on Wednesday asked for Russian help to repel aggression as explosions rocked the breakaway eastern city of Donetsk.
Putin has said this week that he wants to take the important Azov sea port of Mariupol which deals with around half of Ukraine’s steel and mineral exports, it is reported.
Putin has told Ukraine soldiers to lay down their arms (Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
An unnamed US official described the activity as “pre assault fire,” with a “land attack to follow,” according to Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. The official reportedly added that blasts had been heard in the cities of Odessa, a major seaport at the Black Sea and Mariupol, a city on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, saying “it’s begun.”
Reuters journalist Idress Ali, citing a local witness, said a “series of explosions” could be heard in Belgorod, Russia, while CNN international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen claimed to hear “what sounds like outgoing artillery and rocket fire” from the same area. He later added that jets were heard over the city.
Donbass News Agency reports shelling of several schools and the death of a civilian in the DPR, the afternoon in the Donbass was a long wait to hear about the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on whether to recognize the DPR and the LPR. One by one the members of the Security Council voted almost unanimously in favor of recognizing the two Donbass republics. Vladimir Putin then announced that the decision would be taken the same day.
All the while this meeting was being publicly broadcast on the Internet, Ukraine’s shelling of the DPR and LPR continued. And the wait for the official announcement of Vladimir Putin’s so-called decision turned into unbearable suspense.
At around 8pm, the Ukrainian army shelled the Kirovski district of Donetsk with 122mm heavy artillery, damaging 10 homes.
Photos provided by the DPR representation in the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring and Coordination Centre (JCMC):
Then, late in the evening, the Russian President finally announced, after a long speech explaining his decision, the recognition of the DPR and the LPR by Russia, before signing in front of the cameras the decree officialising this recognition as well as the friendship and cooperation agreements, with the leaders of the two Donbass republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Passetchnik, who were present in Moscow for this historic event.
These recognition decrees contain the following points:
1. Taking into account the will of the people of the Donetsk/Lugansk People’s Republic and Ukraine’s refusal to peacefully resolve the conflict in accordance with the Minsk agreements, to recognize the Donetsk/Lugansk People’s Republic as a sovereign and independent state.
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation shall conduct negotiations with Donetsk/Lugansk on the establishment of diplomatic relations and formalise the agreement by corresponding documents.
3. To instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, with the participation of interested federal executive bodies, to conduct negotiations with Donetsk/Lugansk to prepare a draft treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance and to submit a proposal for its signature in accordance with the established procedure.
4. Within the framework of the request of the Head of the Donetsk/Lugansk People’s Republic, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation shall ensure that the armed forces of the Russian Federation carry out peacekeeping functions on the territory of the Donetsk/Lugansk People’s Republic until the conclusion of the treaty mentioned in paragraph 3 of this decree.
The question of whether Russia recognizes the DPR and LPR within their current borders or those of the former Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts has been the subject of much speculation, and was clarified today by Vladimir Putin himself: Moscow recognizes both republics within the borders defined by their constitutions, i.e. those of the two former regions.
He said that the border issue should ideally be resolved through diplomacy. Unfortunately, in the current situation, it seems that it will have to be settled militarily. He also said that this recognition meant the end of the Minsk agreements.
Indeed, throughout Vladimir Putin’s speech and the signing of the documents, the shelling stopped in the DPR and the LPR, as if the Ukrainian army and authorities were hanging on to their television sets, waiting for the official announcement.
In both republics, the inhabitants let their joy explode. In Donetsk’s Lenin Square, music, Russian flags and fireworks celebrated the announcement of Russia’s recognition of the DPR and the LPR.
See War Gonzo’s video from the scene:
But the respite and joy were short-lived. Just before the official announcement of the Russian President’s decision, a terrorist attack targeting the head of the LPR representation in the CCCC, Ivan Filiponenko, took place in the centre of Lugansk. A car parked near his exploded, injuring Filiponenko and his driver.
Analysis of the vehicle revealed that it contained between 10 and 15 kg of explosives. According to the LPR Ministry of the Interior, the aim was to kill Filiponenko and thus prevent the republic’s representation in the CCCC from being able to continue its work of recording the Ukrainian army’s shelling and their consequences for civilians.
Then, less than an hour after the announcement of the recognition of the two republics, the Ukrainian army resumed shelling the DPR with 120mm and 82mm mortar shells. It was as if the Ukrainian soldiers had suddenly woken up from the torpor caused by the announcement of the Russian decision. Then, for a good part of the night and morning, it was the LPR that was intensively shelled by the Ukrainian army.
As a result, between 21 and 22 February 2022, the Ukrainian army violated the ceasefire in the DPR 55 times, firing 667 rounds of ammunition, including 77 122mm artillery shells, 5 tank shells, and 424 120mm and 82mm mortar shells.
Evolution of the number of shelling by Ukraine against the DPR
In the LPR, over the same period, the Ukrainian army violated the ceasefire 65 times and fired 457 rounds of ammunition, including 134 artillery shells and 323 mortar shells. This firing damaged twelve houses.
Terrorist attacks also continued. For example, in the middle of the night, explosive devices, placed by a Ukrainian sabotage-recognition group on the highway linking Yassinovataya to Gorlovka (the front line passes very close to this road), exploded when two cars passed.
The three civilians in the second car died instantly.
Journalists who went to the scene were also caught under Ukrainian army anti-tank rocket fire, forcing them to take refuge in an old trench. Fortunately, none of them were injured.
And on the afternoon of 22 February 2022, the former DPR Minister of Defense, Vladimir Kononov, was targeted by a terrorist attack in the Kalininski district of Donetsk. A civilian who was passing by the site of the explosion was injured. Konov was unharmed.
Less than an hour before, the Ukrainian army used Grad multiple rocket launchers against DPR territory for the first time since 2018. At around 3.10 p.m., the Ukrainian army fired 16 Grad 122 mm rockets at the Kievski district of Donetsk, damaging an administrative building.
Heavy artillery fire from the Ukrainian army also damaged a major water pipeline, reducing supplies to several districts in Donetsk by 80%.
While the Russian Duma and Federal Council have validated the agreements signed last night by Vladimir Putin, Leonid Passetchnik and Denis Pushilin, the military situation on the Donbass front leaves Russia with no choice but to intervene militarily, as foreseen in the above-mentioned documents.
Following the Russian Deputy Defence Minister’s call to take the DPR and the LPR under Russia’s protection, Vladimir Putin obtained the Federal Council’s authorisation to deploy the Russian army abroad, paving the way for Moscow’s military intervention to stop the Ukrainian shelling. In the wake of this, Moscow announced that it would soon evacuate all its diplomatic personnel from Ukraine. It seems that the Ukrainian army will finally have to face the Russian army for good, as Kiev has not listened to Moscow’s calls to stop the hostilities writes Christelle Néant from Donbass