The fight for Donbass begins when Russia starts a big offensive

Russian armed forces have started their long-awaited offensive against the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine trying to break through Ukrainian defense in three regions.

Wolodymyr Selenskyj said late Monday evening that the attack that aims to surround and destroy the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions had started.

"We can now confirm that the Russian troops have started the fight for the Donbass that they have been preparing for a long time. A large part of the Russian army is now devoting themselves to this offensive," he wrote on Telegram.

At least nine people were killed by Russian shelling and rocket attacks in the entire Ukraine, which the Ukrainian general staff described as "signs of the beginning of the offensive surgery in the eastern operation zone".

"The main efforts of the enemy focus on gaining full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk and maintaining the previously conquered territory," says a daily update.

It was said that Russian armed forces seemed to be trying to tighten Ukrainian armed forces in Slobozhansky near Charkiw while trying to win near Izyum Boden.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Donetsk region, previously said that Russian armed forces had taken control of the villages of Kremenaya and Lugashchnine, both of whom are northwest of the city of Severodonetsk.

Evacuation "impossible"

"An evacuation from there is already impossible," he wrote on Telegram in the early morning. Luhansk residents were warned that this was their last chance to evacuate.

The Kremlin said that after the withdrawal from Kiev would concentrate on the “liberation” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions at the end of March, the mainly Russian -speaking and strongly industrialized regions in which war broke out for the first time.

Ukraine tried to advance the expected attack on Sunday by starting a counter -offensive that aimed to interrupt the supply lines to Izyum, where the Russians apparently attract the troops for a attempted area of the area.

The Russian military said on Monday that its rockets had hit more than 20 military goals in Eastern and Central Lucraine last day than increasing a campaign to meet weapons factories, railways and other infrastructure goals before the offensive

At least seven people were killed in the field of cross -aircraft on Lemberg in the extreme west of the country.

in Charkiw, the local authorities said that a man and a woman died at the last round of the shelling of the second largest city in Ukraine.

photographers later said that at least three people were killed.

A woman was photographed how she mourned her father after being killed on the strike.

Another victim, a woman who came out to get water, was found with a water canister and an umbrella on her side.

The authorities asked the city's inhabitants to spend all day in air -raid shell bunkers and referred to the incessant fire. Kharkiw has been bombarded since the beginning of the war,

WOLODYMYR SELenskyj said separately that in the past four days 18 people had been killed by the Russian bombing of Charkiw and injured 106.

There are nine civilians on Sunday alone who were killed and injured by rocket and artillery fire in the region.

inhabitants of Vasylkiv, a city south of the capital Kiev, in which there is a military airfield, reported a great explosion on Monday morning.

Russian rockets also hit Lemberg and, according to the regional governor, killed at least seven people.

"At the moment we can confirm that seven people have died. We also know that 11 people were injured. A child is among them," said Maksym Kozytsky.

"Three victims are in a critical condition," he added.

Mr. Kozytsky confirmed that there were four rocket attacks, three of which met the military infrastructure and a tire business.

lemberg, the westernmost city of Ukraine near the border with Poland, has largely been spared from attacks on February 24.

But his mayor warned the city, "must be ready" for further attacks.

'Never give up on'

Andriy Sadovyi told Fox News: "We have to be ready [for a] new Russian attack. And together we have to protect our country.

"It is a very special moment in our life. We only have one country, we only have one country. I think of our victory, never give up. Only the victory."

"Five powerful rocket attacks on the civilian infrastructure of the old European city of Lemberg," said Mykhaylo Podolyak, a consultant of the president.

Videos posted on social media sites showed smoke in the area after the explosion. It was not immediately clear what was hit and there was no official confirmation from the authorities.

Since both sides have been stuck to Kiev since the fighting, the campaign in Donbass will probably develop into a logistical race, since both sides hurry to send more and better men and material into battle.

Russia hurts to convert battalions that were deducted from Kiev and use them to increase the Donbass front.

The general staff of Ukraine said that Russia also forms units of the second level in the Rostow region and in the Crimea to occupy conquered area behind the advance. It was said that these units should be finished by February 24th.

US defense officers said that Russia expanded its forces in Ukraine by 11 tactical battalion groups, which increased the current total of 76. The officials could not say whether all new groups were stationed in Donbass.

The official also said that four flights with US weapons had arrived in Ukraine since President Biden approved the last military aid of $ 800 million last week. The official says that a fifth will probably arrive in the next 24 hours.

Ukrainian trainers who later train Ukrainian crews should also begin training on Haubitzenartillerie systems, which are provided by the Americans in the coming days. The training takes place outside of Ukraine.