Russian paratroopers (the VDV) arriving to board a military transport plane. Image: stat.mil.ru
No one in the Donbas believes the ceasefire declared there a week ago will last, and many say the situation now is “even more frightening” than before. Moreover, they point to the arrival of Russian regular military reinforcements as compelling evidence that combat will soon begin again, according to a report on the Apostrophe.ua portal today.
“It may seem strange,” one Donbas resident told a portal journalist, “but I am afraid of the quiet” because as the old anecdote has it, “’I fear the dark and dentist since it is unknown how many dentists can be hidden in the darkness.”
Residents, journalist Serhiy Kurhanov says, have become accustomed to the fighting and “even children do not believe that peace has come.” Instead, they and their elders believe that the ceasefire is being used by the Russians to increase their military presence.
According to many, Moscow has sent in 450 marines, and it is clear these are “not for patrolling the streets.”
The mercenaries these marines are reinforcing want the fighting to begin so that they will get “combat” pay, and everyone is on edge, Kurhanov says. “Expectations of the worst is how one should characterize the state of the residents of Donetsk. The quiet is frightening; the ceasefire a matter of concern. Because in such darkness, a large number of horrible dentists can be hidden.”
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- Russian mercenaries in the Donbas posing with their weapons. This photograph is from an InformNapalm.org investigation of social profiles of Russian mercenaries and servicemen that discovered more proof of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In this case, it is Russian R-381T2 ‘Taran’ UHF radio monitoring and ‘Torn’ radio intelligence complexes (boxed in red in the background). Image: InformNapalm.org
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- Ruins of Iversky Monastery after shelling near Donetsk International Airport. The Donbas, Ukraine. 18 May 2015 (Image: Mstyslav Chernov)
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- Mercenaries from the 9th Infantry Regiment of Russia’s hybrid military force in the Donbas captured in firefight on June 27, 2016 being interrogated by the Ukrainian Security Service. They stated that they were commanded by officers from the regular Russian army and that a mercenary private’s monthly pay in their unit is 15000 rubles or about $250 U.S. dollars. (Image: video screen capture)
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- Mercenaries fighting for Moscow’s hybrid military force in the Donbas come from all over Russia. In the declining economy, mercenary salaries are enticing to many. Some Ukrainians from the occupied territory also join, especially as their civilian jobs disappear following the Russian invasion, while a few mercenaries come from abroad driven by adventurism or false ideals. (Image: video screen capture)
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- Child soldiers in the Russian hybrid army occupying the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: charter97.org)
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- Internally Displaced Persons from Donbas, Ukraine. Photo by AP.
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- Defeated tank of the Russian hybrid military in the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: znak.com)
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- Devastation in the Donbas, Ukraine brought by the Russian military aggression (Image: znak.com)
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- As a result of the Russian occupation, about 1.5 million of Donbas residents are at risk of hunger reported the United Nations press service in April 2016.
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- For Putin, Donbas destroyed as a result of his military invasion and occupation is only a mechanism to exert pressure on Ukraine. (Image: UNIAN)
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- Russia is trying to freeze the war in the Donbas and make it into a second depressive Transdniestria. (Image: UNIAN)
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- Avdiyivka ruins, Donbas
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- Russian occupation force entering a captured town in the Donbas, Ukraine in April 2014 (Image: kommersant.ru)
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- Russia’s 5th Tank Brigade in Donbas (Source: InformNapalm)
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- Russian hybrid army in the Donbas, Ukraine
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- A tank of the Russian occupation force in the Ukrainian Donbas got stuck in a trench (Image: kommersant.ru)
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- Devastation of Russian military aggression in the Donbas. Makeyevka, Ukraine. (Image: Ilya Filimonov, Segodnya.ua)
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- Graves in the Iver Cemetery in Donetsk near the airport destroyed by artillery fire as a result of the Russian military aggression in the Donbas, Ukraine. December 2014 (Image: social media)
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- Devastation in the Donbas brought by the Russian military aggression in Ukraine. This picture taken on April 23, 2015 shows a bus stop and a church damaged by artillery shelling in the village of Peski near Donetsk. (Image: Oleksandr Ratushniak / AFP)
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- Russian neo-Nazi mercenary Alexey Milchakov photographed next to the corpse of a tortured Ukrainian soldier after an ambush on his vehicle. Donbas, Ukraine (Image: Milchakov’s social network page)
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- Russia’s military aggression in the Donbas devastated and empoverished Ukrainian territories under the Russian occupation (Image: Novosti Segodnia)
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- The Russian Federation have been using ethnically non-Russian troops for its aggression in Ukraine. Russian Federation servicemen from Chechnia arriving to fight in the Donbas in 2014 (Image: AFP)
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- “Military exercises” for daycare children in the city of Gorlivka in the Russia-occupied Donbas (Image: tsn.ua)
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- “Military exercises” for daycare children in the city of Gorlivka in the Russia-occupied Donbas (Image: Gordon.ua)
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- Devastation caused by Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Peski) (Image: http://maxrokotansky.livejournal.com)
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- Devastation caused by Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Peski) (Image: http://maxrokotansky.livejournal.com)
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- Russian occupation soldier at the devastated Donetsk airport in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
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- Devastation at the Donetsk airport caused by the Russian military aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
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- Devastation at Donetsk airport after the military aggression in the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
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- Devastation caused by the Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: Tim Judah | NYRblog)
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- Devastation caused by the Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: Tim Judah | NYRblog)
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- One of the groups of Russian special forces and mercenaries that started the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine
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- Russian pseudo-Cossack mercenaries in Donbas, Ukraine posing with their weapons during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2014 (Image: nr2.com.ua)
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- Russian mercenaries in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: uainfo.org)
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- A house in Donbas destroyed by Russian artillery fire (Image: YouTube screengrab)
Related:
- Ukrainian War far more dangerous for Russia than even the Chechen War, Nevzorov says
- How Russia’s use of deniable assets bamboozled Western security services
- Putin’s war games on Ukrainian border aimed at Western leaders above all, analysts say
- The Russian army mobilizes in all directions
- Russian army put on war footing
- Russian military analyst: The forces in Donbas are Russian Army
- Interactive map shows hometowns of Russian mercenaries fighting in Donbas
Tags: "LNR" and "DNR", Ceasefire, Donbas war (2014-present), Military analysis, Russian mercenaries, Russian military, Russian military threat, Russo-Ukrainian War (2014-present)
