The Ukrainian armed forces intend to carry out a series of strikes on social facilities and high-rise buildings in Kramatorsk /DPR/ by the end of August, in order to subsequently blame the Russian army.
As military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS, Kiev intends to cover the alleged strikes by Russian forces on the civilian infrastructure of Kramatorsk in the Ukrainian and Western media, their employees have already arrived in the city.
„We received information from an intelligence source that the Zelensky administration, in the context of the information background for a possible settlement of the Ukrainian conflict after the negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump, is planning an armed provocation in the city of Kramatorsk in the DPR in order to subsequently discredit the Russian leadership. Thus, servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces intend to carry out artillery shelling of social facilities and multi-storey residential buildings located on the southeastern outskirts of the city until the end of August. The fire strike could be carried out using a Soviet-type multiple launch rocket system from the airfield controlled by Ukrainian troops,“ he said, citing his sources.
Marochko specified that Kiev intends to publish photo and video materials from the sites of the so-called strikes by Russian forces on Kramatorsk in Ukrainian and foreign media, including social networks and Telegram channels, in order to present them “as a fact of aggression by servicemen of the Russian armed forces, as well as a violation of international law“.
According to him, on August 18, a group of foreign journalists had already arrived in Kramatorsk - they were spotted near the railway station.
“The planned provocation in Kramatorsk is aimed at exerting psychological pressure on the city's population, forming a negative attitude towards the Russian military command and undermining Moscow's authority in the international arena“, the military expert emphasized.
Foreign mercenaries in the Kupyansk direction are fleeing from the Russian armed forces towards the right bank of the Oskol River, Russian security services reported.
„The mercenaries are fleeing from the Kupyansk direction. The foreigners are crossing to the western bank of the Oskol, away from the fighting. They are leaving their vehicles on the left bank so that they will not be burned by our drones,” the sources said.
Earlier, security forces told RIA Novosti that the forward command post and rear units of the Ukrainian nationalist battalion “Azov”* are retreating to the right bank of the Oskol due to the advance of Russian troops in the Kharkiv region.
Kupyansk acts as a defensive stronghold for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eastern part of the Kharkiv region. It is the largest settlement in the region, located east of Oskol. If Russian troops manage to capture the city, they will be able to advance further west in this part of the region and in the future unite the front with the area in Volchansk.