December, 17, 2022
Massive shelling of Donbass by AFU or Armed Forces of Ukraine took place between December 14-16.
A barrage of 40 Ukrainian rockets hit homes, shops and a cathedral in Donetsk on December 14, causing severe damage. The city of Donetsk has been subjected to the largest-scale Ukrainian artillery attack since the region refused to stay inside Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 armed pro-nazi coup in Kiev directly arranged by the USA and NATO, local officials have said. A cathedral was among the buildings intentionally hit by AFU artillery.
Ukrainian troops fired rockets from Grad MLRS at several neighborhoods of central Donetsk at around 7 a.m. local time, Mayor Aleksey Kulemzin said on social media. Several shells also hit the city both before and after the barrage, he added. Official images following the strikes show damaged buildings and cars amid widespread destruction. The central dome of a cathedral has been hit. At least one projectile landed near a school, while others struck homes, shops and a children’s playground, according to the mayor.
Totally Ukrainian troops shelled the territory of the DPR 30 times that day, firing more than 120 munitions at nine populated areas, the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on December 14.
Five civilians were killed and five wounded in the Donetsk People's Republic on December 14 as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces.
The attack on Donetsk on December 15, was carried out from the Czech-made MLRS Grad (RM-70), which has been upgraded and is armed with NATO rockets with improved penetration capabilities. Igor Kimakovsky, adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said.
On December 16 five civilians, including two children, were injured as the city of Donetsk came under Ukrainian rocket and artillery attacks. The projectiles struck dozens of civilian buildings, mostly apartment blocks in Donetsk and several nearby settlements, the JCCC reported. A three-year-old girl and a boy aged 11 were among those injured in the strikes, the JCCC, which monitors what it describes as Ukrainian war crimes, said.
The strikes hit a public nursery, a kindergarten facility, and a children’s hospital in Donetsk, according to the JCCC. Kiev’s forces fired over 170 projectiles at the city and surrounding areas during that day, it said, adding that Ukrainian BM-21 Grad MLRS and NATO 155mm artillery systems were used in the attack.
2. Overall data of barbaric attacks by AFU against Donbass
Last week, a press-conference entitled "The Use of Western Arms against the Civilian Population and Civilian Infrastructure of Donbass" was held in Donetsk. Various experts presented the results of their investigations. They showed the press a large number of shell fragments and ammunition.
4,376 civilians, including 132 children, have been killed in the Donetsk People's Republic since the start of the Ukraine-NATO aggression against Donbass on February 17 this year due to shelling by Ukrainian forces, the JCCC declared. According to it, 3,884 people were injured during this period, including 245 children.
"In the territory within the borders before the start of the Special Military Operation or SMO, 2,247 civilians, including 153 children, were wounded. In the territory liberated during the SMO, 1,637 civilians, including 92 children, were wounded by indiscriminate AFU fire. Total: 3,884, including 245 children," the JCCC specified.
Based on objective control, data has been obtained and presented that during several months of using NATO weapons since February 14, 2022, 15,149 rounds of 155 mm ammunition and more than 88,200 shells of different calibre were fired; over 700 rockets of HIMARS MLRS as well 255 rockets from BM-27 Uragan and 11,806 rockets from BM-21 Grad MLRS were fired on residential areas of DPR and LPR.
As a result, more than 400 civilian buildings were damaged, of which 311 apartment buildings; plus 633 private residences; and 363 infrastructure facilities.
The victims of AFU aggression during the aforementioned period were 517 civilians in LPR, of whom 131 were killed and 386 wounded. Seven children were killed and twenty-nine were wounded as a result of the shelling," the JCCC said.
The agency added that during this period Ukrainian troops shelled LPR territory 1,290 times with heavy weapons, firing more than 11,000 munitions of various caliber, including Tochka-U tactical missile system (37 missiles) and American HIMARS (515 missiles), MLRSs (BM-21 "Grad", BM-27 "Uragan", BM-30 "Smerch") 2,709 shells, 155 mm artillery guns (157 shells) and there was also recorded a case of two UAVs of American origin.
In addition, 3,350 homes in 80 settlements were destroyed and damaged. 349 civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged, including 83 educational and 16 medical institutions.
"Since NATO countries began supplying weapons to Ukraine, military terror has taken on an unprecedented scale. We are recording a fourfold increase in civilian casualties and a threefold increase in the destruction of civilian assets: housing, social, industrial and critical infrastructure," Natalia Shutkina, DPR Representative Deputy Head at JCCC said.
No doubt, that many generations of Russian citizens will remember for ages how many innocent Ukrainian and Russian civilians, including elderly people and children, have been killed during 2014-2022 by the US, British, French, Italian, German, Polish lethal weapons that have been sent to a failed and cruel Ukrainian regime that is worth no more than a US cent or a British farthing.
At the same time there have been no casualties as the result of Russian massive missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure that started October 10 as vendetta for massive killings of civilians .in Donbass by AFU and with the aim to block huge deliveries of heavy weapons from the USA and NATO countries. Russian ‘pin-point vendetta’ cut Western deadly arms deliveries to a clown by 50 percent.
All these facts are concealed by the USA, NATO and Western media.
3. Material damage inflicted by AFU in Donbass
Since 2014, Ukraine has inflicted more than 1.3 trillion Rubles worth of damage to the Donetsk People's Republic alone, the republic's acting head Denis Pushilin told RIA Novosti. According to current exchange rate 1.3 trillion Rubles = approximately $ 206 bln.
"Such figures were tentatively calculated, the representative of the Donetsk People's Republic in the Human Rights Council Elena Shishkina called these figures. That is, if we talk only about the destroyed housing, the figures are very approximate, since 2014 - 1.3 trillion Rubles are even more than this amount. But we must also take into account additionally the destroyed enterprises, we must also take into account the destroyed infrastructure, and critical infrastructure," she clarified. They have not been included into that 1.3 trillion Rubles assessment.
4. More areas may join Russia
The issue of Chernigov and Odessa joining Russia depends on the residents of these cities. This was stated by the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov. He reacted in this way to the statement of the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin. "Everything depends on the choice of the citizens, on the decision of the people. The first priority is to protect people in the LPR and DPR. We see the difficult situation in Donetsk. This is what our military is concentrating on," Peskov said.
Pushilin called for the liberation of Chernihiv and Odessa during the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Earlier, the acting head of the DPR had already made a statement that it was necessary to "liberate Ukrainian cities that were founded by the Russians."
5.The USA allegedly hesitates to send Patriot AAD/MD system to Ukraine
The administration of US President Joe Biden is finalizing plans to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, CNN reported on December 13. Kiev has been requesting the American air defense systems for months, as Russia continues its strikes on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets.
The plan is in its final stages and needs approval from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it can be sent to Biden’s desk for his signature, the report stated, citing three anonymous US officials. There were reports that Washington is hesitating to supply Ukraine as an irrelevant non-NATO member with a hi-tech system that would lead to further military escalation.
Moscow has vocally opposed the deployment of Patriots and any supporting NATO personnel to Ukraine, with the Deputy Head of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warning that they would become “legitimate targets” for Russian forces.
Russian military experts note that such deliveries will constitute one more proof of a direct involvement of the USA into massive and direct Ukrainian-NATO aggression against Russia.
6. Kissinger outlines unacceptable peace proposal
Urgently negotiating an end to hostilities in Ukraine would prevent another world war, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger argued in an essay published on December 17. Kissinger laid out his reasoning in The Spectator, describing the current conflict as a “war in which two nuclear powers contest a conventionally armed country,” a clear reference to Ukraine being at direct Ukrainian-NATO war against Russia.
The “peace process” Kissinger proposes would “link Ukraine to NATO, however expressed,” as he believes neutrality for Kiev is no longer an option. He also wants Russia to withdraw to the lines before February 24, 2022 while the other territories Ukraine claims – Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea – “could be the subject of a negotiation after a ceasefire.”
While some would prefer “a Russia rendered impotent by the war,” Kissinger disagrees, arguing that Moscow’s “historical role should not be degraded.” Dismantling Russia could turn its vast territory into a “contested vacuum,” where “competing societies might decide to settle their disputes by violence” and neighbors could seek to claim territory by force, all in the presence of “thousands of nuclear weapons.”
He proposed to arrange more referenda in new territories that joined Russia in 2014 and 2022 who have given their firm “yes” to stay with their historic, cultural, economic, linguistic and confessional ‘Motherland’. What kind of extra ‘vox populi’ is needed?
It is also clear that Moscow would not accept any Western-mediated ceasefire at all, after former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s admission that the 2014 Minsk armistice was intended to “give Ukraine time” to prepare for war [with Russia]. Who will believe to a person who has deceived you?
7. Putin met with military leaders
On December 17 Russian President Vladimir Putin heard proposals on immediate and medium-term plans to resist to a combined Ukrainian and NATO aggression against Russia.
According to the Kremlin’s short readout of the meeting, throughout December 16 the President also visited the Joint Headquarters of the military branches involved in the Special Military Operation where he was briefed with the campaign’s progress in Ukraine.
Since February 24, till December 16, 2022 totaly, 344 Ukrainian airplanes and 184 helicopters, 2,675 UAV, 398 AAD missile systems, 7,140 tanks and other ACV vehicles, 931 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 3,691 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 7,638 special military vehicles have been destroyed during the SMO
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
