Situation report for February 2: combat zone in the Donbass expands

Photo: pressroom ATO

The town of Kurakhovo in Donetsk oblast, which was considered to be a safe place for a long time, was shelled by heavy weapons on Monday, reported displaced town residents in conversations with Capital.

The information about shelling was later confirmed by commander of the Kyiv-1 battalion Yevhen Deidei on his Facebook page.

“The center of the town suffered from shellfire. There are many victims and massive destructions. One of the shells hit the building, used as our base, but did not detonate. For now there is no accurate information on the number of casualties among soldiers and civilians,” wrote Deidei.

MP Kostyantyn Mateichenko (People’s Front), who had previously served as commander of the Artemivsk battalion, told Capital that on February 2 fighting was reported along the whole battle line in the so-called Debaltseve bridgehead.

“There is a positional battle with shooting and artillery. We received no orders to go on the offensive. We have enough force and resources to protect our positions, there is no need to panic,” he said.

Mateichenko also said that high intensity combat activities persist in the Debaltseve area. “It is not true that things are slow down there – the intensity of the fire has not changed. The parties still sort things out resorting to force,” said Mateichenko.

Head of the ATO’s Press Center Oleksandr Motuzyannyk said that on Monday “there have been no positional changes in the lines”. He added that today Debaltseve and settlements located near the town were the ones to suffer most from shellfire.

The shelling of Debaltseve started in the morning and before noon the town was attacked seven times.

Debaltseve resident Oleksiy Petryanyk (brought his wife and children to the camp for displaced persons in Svyatohirsk) told Capital that it was extremely difficult for people in Debaltseve to leave the town.

“Those who have gas in their vehicles can leave. There is no gas because all gas stations are closed. There is no power within the 30 km radius. Those who have gas, who were smart enough to stock some of it, they leave the town. There are no mini buses, there has been no railway traffic since July, after all the tracks were bombed. Ukrainian soldiers make no attempts to help people escape the town. Whom should we ask for help? Nothing works. All cell phones have ran out of juice over the last few days,” said Petryanyk.

Representatives of the ATO’s Press Service reported that Shumy, Mius, Troyitske, Novozvanivka, Novohryhoryivka, Luhanske and Popasna settlements were shelled in Donetsk direction this Monday. Also, there were attacks on Severne, Vodyane, Hranitne and Bohdanivka. Shells were dropped in the town of Novosyolovka not far from Mariupol. Terrorists used mortars for their attacks on Kryakivka, Krymske, Toshkivska and Stanytsya Luhanska in Luhansk direction.

In the meantime, Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, called for a draft within 10 days to mobilise 100,000 people. After training and combat coordination the draftees will form three motorized infantry brigades, one tank brigade and one artillery brigade.

Also, representatives of the DPR reported shooting down of an aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The General Staff of the AFU denied such information.

“The ATO forces do not use any combat aircrafts, so there simply could be no aircraft in that area,” said Acting Head of the Press Service of the General Staff Vladsylav Seleznyov.