Judging by the metadata of the video files released on Friday with appeals from the heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, they were recorded on February 16. This was immediately noticed by several activists and Telegram channels, as well as the Bellingcat organization (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia). At the same time, the project with the appeal of Leonid Pasechnik was originally in a folder called “Mongoose Throw”.
“President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky will soon order the military to go on the offensive, to implement a plan to invade the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” the head of the DPR said in an emergency appeal to the residents of the republic. “From today, February 18, a mass centralized departure of the population has been organized to the Russian Federation. First of all, women, children and the elderly are subject to evacuation. Leonid Pasechnik, in turn, said: “In order to prevent civilian casualties, I urge residents of the republic who do not have mobilization orders, and are not involved in the life support of social and civilian infrastructure, to leave for the territory of the Russian Federation as soon as possible.”
A video with Denis Pushilin can be downloaded on his official Telegram channel, and with the head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik, on the channel of the Luhansk Information Center. Then, to see the metadata, the files must be opened in any video editor.
It should be noted that on February 16, the situation on the line of contact in Donbass was relatively calm – a sharp aggravation began on the morning of Thursday, February 17. The OSCE monitoring mission operating in the region stated: in total, 591 violations of the ceasefire regime were recorded in the territories of the LPR and DPR on Thursday (on Wednesday – 153).
Read about the aggravation of the situation in the publication “Kommersant” “Donbass was on the line of incitement.”