Russia-Ukraine War: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told that the Russian army has intensified attacks in the Donbass. Russia said last week that it now aims to capture the Donbass.
Russia-Ukraine War: Russian President Vladimir Putin has now focused his attention on the Donbass. Donbass lies in eastern Ukraine and is considered to have a higher pro-Russian population than western Ukraine. According to European officials, there are already 10 to 20 thousand fighters in support of Russia in the Donbass. However, despite this, the Russian army is finding it difficult to capture the Donbass.
After 35 days of the war, Russian military officer Sergei
Ratskoy said that the first phase of the military campaign against Ukraine had
been completed and that the Russian army would now focus on the complete liberation
of the Donbass. However, experts linked it to the failure of the Russian army.
Experts believed that Russia is now paying attention to the Donbass because of
not being able to capture Kyiv even after so many days of fierce battle.
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Russia's 62
thousand soldiers in Ukraine
A US defence official told the news agency on condition of
anonymity that Russia had added two more units to its army in the last 24
hours. After this, there have been 78 units of the Russian army in Ukraine.
There are 700 to 800 soldiers in a troop. That is, 55 thousand to 62 thousand
Russian soldiers are present in Ukraine. All these soldiers are in the south
and east. As of last week, 65 units of the Russian army were present in
Ukraine.
Apart from these, pro-Russian foreign fighters are also
present in Donbass. A European official told the news agency that there are
between 10 and 20 thousand foreign fighters in the Donbass. These fighters are
from Syria and Libya.
However, despite having so much strength, the Russian army
is having trouble in capturing the Donbass. Ukraine claims that it has driven
out Russian forces from the city of Mariyanka, adjacent to Donetsk, Donbass. In
March, Mariana was captured by Russian forces. Ukraine claims that 10 attempts
to capture Donbass have been foiled in the last 24 hours. The Ukrainian army
destroyed 12 Russian military tanks, an artillery system, 28 armoured vehicles,
a Su-34 aircraft, a Ka-52 helicopter, 4 drones and a cruise missile in the
Donbass.
Ukrainian officials said fighting in the Donbass has
intensified since Monday. On Tuesday, the Russian army heavily bombed the
Donbass. Russia claims that 1260 artillery and 1214 military bases were
attacked in Ukraine in 24 hours. Apart from this, bombs were also thrown at 60
such military facilities where fighter aircraft were kept.
But why the
capture of the Donbass?
Donbass lies in eastern Ukraine. Most of the population here
speaks Russian, so Russia wants to separate it from Ukraine. The conflict
between the Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian army has been going on
in the Donbass since 2014. Donetsk and Luhansk also come in Donbass. Two days
before the start of the war, Putin recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as
independent countries.
Last week Russia said it was aiming to capture the Donbass.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that fighting had begun
in the Donbass. Zelensky said that no matter how many Russian soldiers are
here, we will fight.
If Russia takes over the Donbass, then President Putin will
be able to break Ukraine into two pieces. Apart from this, the separation of
Donbass will also affect the economy of Ukraine. That is because there is a
large number of coal mines and here is also the industrial centre of the
country.