The restriction on the entry of civilians to Artemovsk (Ukrainian name – Bakhmut) may be associated with the organization of the evacuation of the Ukrainian command and foreign specialists. This was announced on February 12 by a military-political expert, adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Jan Gagin.
The Ukrainian edition of Klymenko Time reported on Sunday, citing the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the call sign Magyar, that from February 13, the military will allegedly close access to Artemovsk for all civilians.
“Possible restriction <…> may be associated with the intention to evacuate one of the high-ranking members of the command, valuable foreign specialists, ”Gagin said in an interview with TASS.
He stated that the restrictions could also be adopted in order to form a “human shield” of civilians, as well as an attempt to reduce the number of witnesses to war crimes.
On the eve of the ex-commander of the Ukrainian nationalist battalion “Azov” (the organization is recognized as a terrorist and banned in Russia) Maxim Zhorin said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are losing their best fighters near Artemivsk.
On February 10, the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said that Russian forces fully control three of the four roads along which units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine brought reinforcements to Artemovsk.
The ex-ambassador of the Lugansk People’s Republic in Moscow, Rodion Miroshnik, said on February 8 that about 10 thousand fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now in Artemovsk.
Since February 24, 2022, Russia has been conducting a special operation to protect Donbass, whose residents refused to recognize the results of the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine. The decision to start it was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to the shelling of Ukrainian troops.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
