Recent history shows that every time any negotiations are in the wind that Russia will attempt to bring pressure on all concerned-- by increasing the intensity & scope of the attacks in Ukraine.If anyone needs the dots connected as to why-- please ask!
“The Ukrainian leadership perfectly understands that Russia with the help of a Special status for Donbas and an amnesty for the militants is attempting to undermine Ukraine’s very existence. The Kremlin’s only accessible arguments are only to strengthen the attacks, escalate the conflict, and blackmail us with our prisoners who it stubbornly refuses to exchange. This creates additional tension within the country and they in Russia believe that sooner or later it will reach a critical point,” Sazonov writes.
I have commented over the last year of the improvement of Ukraine's military -- who are better equipped and trained than just a few years ago.
The human loss of life of civilians and Ukrainian military is tragic . What has happened in these current battles is that the Russian forces have lost really significant numbers killed and even more wounded.Some reports are saying over 250 dead.
The Russians have reacted here -- and are using an 'at any cost" strategy in the attempt to recover lost ground.
Reports of very poor morale are rampant. It is no longer a secret in Russia that troops are being sent to Ukraine to conduct a war in Ukraine -- and many Russian military are not happy about it. It seems they are even less happy when there and facing the very real issues. Russia have tried to use a short rotation policy to avoid that loss of morale --but reports are saying that is not working.
Ukraine has started a humanitarian rescue operation, observers are speculating on the Avdiivka escalation and the call between Putin and Trump which took place hours before the first attacks. A look into why the attacks took place in this specific location.
Why Avdiivka is the most vulnerable spot for the Russian-separatist army in UkraineThe small town of Avdiivka near Donetsk had become a hotspot in Donbas starting from late February 2016. Artillery salvos and battles of differing intensity don’t cease there even for a few days. The fighting mainly concerns not the city itself or the huge coke factory, but the so-called Promzona on Avdiivka’s outskirts, which borders the road leading from Donetsk to Horlivka. This is where fighting escalated on 29 January 2017, when starting from 4AM the Russian-separatist forces massively shelled the positions of the Ukrainian army, after which assault groups of militants attacked two Ukrainian army strongholds. This attack was repelled, the Ukrainian forces took another position in the Promzona, after which more artillery strikes on Ukrainian positions followed.
Both sides name attempts of the enemy to violate the Minsk agreements prior to the meeting of the Trilateral contact group that was set to take place on 1 February.
http://euromaidanpress.com/2017/02/02/why-avdiivka-is-the-weakest-point-russia-ukraine-donbas/#arvlbdata
