Russia is ‘creating real hell’ in eastern Ukraine.
Donetsk region is one of two provinces along with Luhansk that make up the Donbas region, where separatist rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
And last week, Russia captured the town of Lysychansk, the last major bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk.
On Saturday, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Russian forces were “raising real hell” in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.
Serhiy Haidai said Russia launched more than 20 artillery, mortar and rocket attacks in the province last night, and its forces were pushing towards the border with the Donetsk region.
After taking Lysychansk, some analysts predicted that Moscow’s troops would likely take some time to rearm and regroup.
But Haidai said that so far there was “no operational pause announced by the enemy”, who was “still attacking and shelling our lands with the same intensity as before”.
He later added that the Russian bombing of Luhansk was suspended because Ukrainian forces had destroyed ammunition depots and barracks used by the Russians.
Ukrainian authorities said the Russian military continued to shell Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and northeastern Kharkiv regions on Saturday.
Even according to officials, Moscow is preparing “new actions” after four and a half months of war.