Terrorist attacks on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) are not excluded, since sleeping cells and sabotage groups are detected daily in the DPR. This was told on Wednesday, February 23, by the head of the republic Denis Pushilin.
“Literally every day, both sleeping cells and sabotage groups are detected. As for terrorist acts, they are possible because we are dealing with the rest of Ukraine, which is aggressive,” Pushilin said during a press conference.
At the same time, according to him, at the moment there are no Russian troops in the DPR, but their presence there in the future is possible.
“At the moment, Russian troops are not here. And before these events, all international observers, including the OSCE itself, were looking for them here, but they were not found. As for the future, is it possible for Russian troops to be here? Maybe. When and under what circumstances, the situation will show how the situation will develop from the position of Ukraine,” Pushilin said.
The situation on the line of contact in Donbass escalated on February 17. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces was reported, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the LPR and DPR. Also, the Russian leader and the heads of both republics Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin signed an agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. The documents were ratified on Tuesday by both the republics themselves and the Russian State Duma.
On February 23, the official representative of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Ivan Filiponenko, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the territory of Donbas under their control are evicting civilians from their homes and settling there personnel. While the People’s Militia of the DPR reported that over the past day, four servicemen of the republic were wounded during shelling of the Ukrainian military.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it has nothing to do with the conflict.