Russian forces are advancing from staging areas in the Donbas region toward the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which continues to be the target of rocket attacks, according to an April 21 British military update.
High levels of Russian air activity continue as Moscow seeks to provide close air support to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine, and to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defense capabilities, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Twitter.
The intelligence update comes days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin had launched a new phase of Russia’s invasion by pushing into eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Zelenskyy declared on April 18 that the “Battle of Donbas” has begun.
“We can now say that Russian forces have started the battle of the Donbas, for which they have long prepared,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.
In a post on Facebook, the Ukrainian armed forces command said that Russia’s main military force was concentrating on taking control of the entirety of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the land collectively known as the Donbas.
“The second phase of the war has begun. ... Believe in our army, it is very strong,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Zelenskyy vowed that Ukrainian forces would defend the Donbas “no matter how many Russian soldiers” were sent by Putin.
The city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region has been hit by heavy shelling in recent weeks. Officials said at least 39 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in an attack on a railway station packed with women and children on April 8. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of Ukrainian civilians were waiting to be evacuated from the station.
Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians.
Shortly after the attack, Russia denied that it targeted civilians, with a statement from the Russian defense ministry accusing Ukraine of “provocation.”
“All statements by representatives of the Kyiv nationalist regime about the ‘rocket attack’ allegedly carried out by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk are a provocation and are absolutely untrue,” the ministry said.
The ministry also claimed the missiles deployed in the attack on the railway station “are used only by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The UK Ministry of Defence’s update also suggested that Russia is likely to demonstrate “significant successes” ahead of the annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations.
“This could affect how quickly and forcefully they attempt to conduct operations in the run-up to this date,” according to the update.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
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