There will be no truce
Moscow – Kiev, February 17 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – While a relative calm settled in the conflict zone in the first hours after the ceasefire, excluding Debaltseve, shelling and clashes then flared up with renewed vigor, and at several points along the line of contact, Kommersant writes.
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One of the first serious clashes outside the Debaltsevo cauldron occurred in the Mariupol direction, near the village of Shirokino, where five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 22 more were injured. “We are not yet ready to withdraw heavy weapons, although we have prepared sites and carried out the appropriate work,” said Andrei Lysenko, without ruling out the introduction of martial law throughout Ukraine.
A similar admission - about the absence of prerequisites for the withdrawal of heavy weapons - was made yesterday by the command of the self-proclaimed DPR. His representative Eduard Basurin recalled that “the withdrawal of military equipment, according to the Minsk agreement, can be carried out under certain conditions, including after a complete ceasefire.” “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are again shelling the airport and surrounding areas,” warned Eduard Basurin, making it clear that de-escalation is impossible due to the actions of the Ukrainian side. And one of the leaders of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, appealed to international mediators, saying that the implementation of the initiative of the heads of the Russian Federation, Germany and France could be disrupted due to the ongoing shelling of the Donetsk airport and Kyiv’s reluctance to withdraw heavy weapons.