Russia has launched new offensive in Donbas region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims Russian troops have begun a large-scale offensive in “peaceful cities” in the country’s east.

A series of attacks have been witnessed across almost the “entire front line” of Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia’s large-scale offensive in the eastern Donbas region had begun.

“We can now confirm that Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, which they have been preparing for a long time. A large part of the Russian army is now dedicated to this offensive,” he said on Telegram on Monday.

“No matter how many Russian soldiers are brought here, we will fight. We will defend ourselves.”

Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff said “the second phase of the war has started”, while a regional governor on the front line described the scenes as “hell”.

Fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine after Russia withdrew troops from the region around the capital Kyiv and refocused its efforts on the Donbas region that pro-Moscow separatists have partly controlled since 2014.

Shellings and artillery fire have been reported in Donbas, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, with outgoing fire spotted from occupied areas of Donetsk and Kherson.

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Footage from the front line in Kharkiv. Picture: D.Emery/Twitter

Russia has launched a new offensive in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Picture: D.Emery/Twitter

Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, said attacks had been launched along almost the “entire front line”, but vowed Ukraine would not surrender to Russia.

This morning, an active phase of the Russian offensive set off almost along the entire front line, the occupiers tried to break through our defenses. Our military is defending, we are not surrendering our territories.

— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) April 18, 2022

“This morning, an active phase of the Russian offensive set off almost along the entire front line, the occupiers tried to break through our defences. Our military is defending, we are not surrendering our territories,” he wrote on Twitter.

“The Russian military was tasked to occupy the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by Easter, thus making a gift to their Fuhrer. However, they will not succeed!”

Mr Danilov urged Ukrainian residents living in frontline areas to evacuate if they can, warning people not to “underestimate” the enemy.

Mr Danilov also claimed the Russian military may try to accuse Ukraine forces “provocations” that they had in fact launched themselves.

Almost all of Ukraine is now under blaring air raid sirens, with footage flooding social media of explosions illuminating the night sky.

Journalist Alejandro Alvarez shared videos of what appeared to be weapons being fired in the direction of Mykolaiv.

Whatever new offensive the Russians have been repositioning to Eastern Ukraine for seems to be getting underway tonight. Outgoing fire from occupied areas of Donetsk and Kherson; almost all of Ukraine fell under air raid alerts over the last hour. pic.twitter.com/K3JlZgb7vM

— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) April 18, 2022

Yeshiva World News reporter Moshe Schwartz also shared a video of what appeared to be “cluster munitions” exploding in Mykolaiv.

Video from Mykolaiv, Ukraine shows what appears to be cluster munitions exploding. pic.twitter.com/uVPdCChG5n

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) April 18, 2022

Shortly before Zelensky’s address, the regional governor of the eastern Lugansk region Sergiy Gaiday also announced the beginning of Russia’s much-anticipated attack.

“It’s hell. The offensive has begun, the one we’ve been talking about for weeks. There’s constant fighting in Rubizhne and Popasna, fighting in other peaceful cities,” he said on Facebook.

Russia has begun a “terrifying second phase of war” and launched a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region (above, town of Rubizhne on April 7), according to Ukraine. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Russian shelling killed at least eight civilians in eastern Ukraine on Monday, according to local authorities.

Gaiday said four people died as they tried to flee the city of Kreminna in Lugansk, which Russian forces captured on Monday.

In the neighbouring region of Donetsk, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said four other civilians died after Russian bombardment.

Reports have also emerged of missiles hitting the western city of Lviv, reportedly killing six people and injuring 11 others.

Until Monday, Lviv had remained largely unscathed by the war, but the renewed Russian offensive has seen parts of the city reduced to rubble.

Five powerful Russian missiles hit the city, with residents fearing more attacks are yet to come.

Firefighters battle a blaze after a civilian building was hit by a Russian missile in Lviv, Ukraine. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A large Russian offensive in the Donbas region had been predicted by Ukraine’s army for weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he launched the military operation to save the region’s Russian-speaking population from a “genocide” carried out by a “neo-Nazi” Kyiv regime.

Putin recognised the independence of two self-proclaimed separatist republics in Donetsk and Lugansk shortly before the full-scale Russian invasion began on February 24.

The Pentagon did not dispute Ukrainian reports, Monday, but characterised the attacks as so-called “shaping operations” in preparation of a larger, future assault.

“We still consider what we’re seeing to be a piece of shaping operations, that the Russians are continuing to set the conditions for what they believe will be eventual success on the ground,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

“We believe that the Russians are shaping and setting the conditions for future offensive operations. We also see that there is active combat going on the Donbas — as there has been for the last several weeks,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he launched the military operation to save the region’s Russian-speaking population from a “genocide” carried out by a “neo-Nazi” Kyiv regime (Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev / SPUTNIK / AFP)

The Donbas, made up primarily of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, has been the site of sporadic fighting since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s simultaneous backing of Donbas separatist movements.

After Russian forces failed to take Kyiv last month, the Kremlin announced it was refocusing its efforts on taking the Donbas, while continuing to shell the whole of Ukraine.

Monday’s reports of fighting in the region come after days of Russian forces massing near Izyum, a city in the Kharkiv oblast just outside the Donbas.

The assault also comes just hours after a massive Russian bombardment campaign struck targets throughout Ukraine, including as far west as Lviv, near the Polish border. Russian authorities reported striking military targets in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Mykolaiv, as well as in Donetsk in the heart of the Donbas.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon assesses that Russia has reinforced its troops in southern and eastern Ukraine, adding tens of thousands of soldiers to the region across at least ten new battalion tactical groups.

Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southern Donbas, has continued to hold out against a Russian onslaught, though its defenders are dwindling. Ukrainian control of the city is the primary impediment to Russian forces in Crimea entering the Donbas.

Experts have predicted that any full-scale Russian assault on the Donbas would occur following Mariupol’s capture.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.