Under the screen of “mobilization” in the” DNR” and “LNR,” Putin is planning to dispatch the next contingent of Russian troops to Ukraine.
Today the Donetsk terrorist leader Alexander Zakharchenko announced the beginning of a general mobilization in the “Donetsk People’s Republic.” “General mobilization will take place over 10 days; plans call for mobilizing 100,000 men” Zakharchenko announced.
It should be noted that the Donetsk and Luhansk terrorists have repeatedly announced attempts to create an army from the local population. However, the only thing the so-called military leadership of the “DNR” has accomplished so far is the mass exodus of male citizens during the “waves of mobilization,” either to territories under Ukrainian control or to the Russian Federation.
According to Dmytro Tymchuk, coordinator of the Information Resistance group, as of December 2014, the general number of the so-called “mobilized” individuals during the conflict barely reached 1,000. Therefore, we can conclude that further additions to the armed groups of the terrorist “republics” through mobilization is entirely impossible — the local homeless, alcoholics, and drug addicts, for whom the war offered the only way out and the only meaning in life, have already died heroically, and the number of those willing to repeat their experience is shrinking rapidly. Meanwhile, the forceful “mobilization” in the occupied territories has never ceased. The so-called “criminals” in the DNR and LNR are sent out daily to dig trenches and do the dirty work at the front. For this it is not necessary to declare “mobilization activities in the territories of the republic.”
Therefore, Zakharchenko’s statement can mean only one thing — Russia is preparing to send another contingent of troops to the Donbas. It should be noted that recent events (the failure of the Minsk negotiations and the massive offensive along the entire frontline) indicate that the Kremlin has agreed to the abandonment of the negotiating process by the terrorists and has begun preparations for a full-scale war. However, according to the General Staff, despite numerous declarations of victory, the militants still have not managed to achieve a relatively significant breakthrough, and the terrorist “troops” are experiencing huge losses and requiring additional resources.
At the same time, Putin is not yet ready to openly send the regular army to the Donbas. Therefore, he can dispatch an additional 10,000-15,000 Russian military only by masking them as local “militia.”
In addition, the terrorist media has recently dramatically increased reports on the availability of military aircraft in the LNR. After the first such reports, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense stated that on one of the terrorist airfields ATO forces had destroyed 10 enemy planes and helicopters, including the MI-24 attack helicopters. However, the militants recently published new photos of the LNR airfield where, in addition to MIGs and a wide selection of iron junk from aviation clubs, the terrorists also had the Grad SU-25 fighter planes. And today the militants announced that this attack aircraft allegedly has been used against a column of Ukrainian military on the M-103 road (Artemivsk — Debaltseve).
Thus, the Ukrainian multi-day defense at the Debaltseve front has demonstrated that the terrorists cannot win without additional manpower and equipment, including aviation. All this indicates that in the near future we should expect the transfer of assault aircraft from the Russian Federation to the territory of occupied Luhansk. After all, the Russian troops earlier had completely destroyed the air defense system there. Or, perhaps, they have already delivered the assault aircraft to the terrorists during the most recent “humanitarian convoy.”
