Head of the Luhansk region predicts huge battle for Donbas to come
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO, ROMAN KRAVETS – 8 APRIL 2022, 20:11
Serhii Haidai, the Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, predicts a "huge battle" for Donbas in the near future, which will begin with massive artillery shelling by Russia and will include an offensive by the occupiers with a large number of tanks and infantry.
Source: Haidai in the interview to "Ukrainska Pravda"
Quote: "We understand that there will be an offensive in the near future. There will be a huge battle for Donbas. We see that there is an accumulation of forces and weapons. A large amount of equipment. Well, we are preparing."
I think there will be something like this: at around 3-4 am a massive shelling will begin. Heavy and large calibre mortars, artillery, aircraft, MLRS, Grad multiple rocket launcher, Smerch ("Tornado") multiple rocket launcher, "Hurricane", "Tochka-U", and "Tochka-B" will be used. They will use everything they have.
It will last for several hours in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and then they will try to attack with a huge number of tanks and infantry."
Details: Haidai also said that Rubizhne, Popasna and Hirske are the most problematic in the region.
"In the part of Rubizhne occupied by ‘orcs’ (Russian army - ed.), there are constant positional battles, constant shelling. The same is true in Popasna. Popasna has been undergoing massive shelling for more than a month. Everything has been destroyed. It is impossible to evacuate people, because everything is being bombed. The situation is difficult", - he said.
Haidai noted that all hospitals in the region were being shelled, but Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk are working, "even with broken roofs, even with some shot-through walls".
According to the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, the Russians need "at least some victory."
"That's why they need to reach the geographical borders of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, that's why they are accumulating all the equipment here to break through the line of defence and reach those geographical borders," he said.
Background:
On 7 April, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, said that the battle between Ukraine and the Russian aggressor for Donbas will be similar to the Second World War.
