Donetsk residents flee fighting; Russians report spike in Ukrainian refugees

[jakeXT]

Source: CNN

Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Long lines of cars jammed the roads leading south out of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Saturday, as residents attempted to flee the city center after a night of heavy shelling on the city's northern outskirts.

Hundreds of vehicles were caught in heavy traffic, and trains are no longer running in and out of the city, which is a stronghold for the pro-Russia rebels.

There was heavy shelling and antiaircraft fire on the outskirts of the city to the north throughout the night. There has been sustained fighting in the area for weeks, but it appeared more intense overnight than in recent days.

Russian news agency Interfax reported a dramatic increase Saturday in the number of Ukrainian refugees seeking refuge over the border in Russia.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/26/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html

[JackRiddler]

1. Russia has received at least 100,000 refugees.

The situation with the refugees is largely driving events, encouraging support among Russian citizens for the anti-Kiev militias.

[Duckhunter935]

2. well if they want ro be part of Russia

and not Ukraine, they are going the right way.

This will be interesting how the new parliamentary elections go in a couple of months.

[Igel]

3. Alchevsk and Stakhanov have seen the biggest spikes.

They were quiescent until just about now. But the LPR front lines have moved south so they're now fortified and the citizens are aghast. The commanders wait until a city is destroyed then leave, saying, "We're evacuating to save the lives of innocent civilians" and move into a city that's untouched by the war, take over the public buildings, interfere with municipal services, confiscate cars and buses, and attract the Ukr military's attention.

Some of the locals in the two cities have pointed out that by going here to defend them they're killing locals and destroying their towns. Sometimes literally: They destroy bridges, they kidnap people. One druggist was killed yesterday when some rebels needed his stock and broke into the pharmacy. In another some rebels took 600 kg of sausage (really? 600 kg?)

In some places they've gone and taken the property records and seized papers from the bureau of vital statistics. Partially to fabricate new passports for fighters and "diversionary groups", in some cases to figure out who the important people are and hit them up for cash, nationalize their property, or connect them with anti-rebel web postings. This, of course, is a problem in a country without all those records on computer. You destroy the originals of the birth certificates, you destroy the land records, and reconstructing them is a difficult task.

[cosmicone]

4. Ukrainian ethnic cleansing of Russians

supported by us

[CanonRay]

6. That's a pretty one-sided way to look at the situation

I seem to recall that when the South declared themselves a Republic, the US government didn't take to it too well. The rebels declared the "Donetsk Peoples Republic" and took over government buildings (the people there are not all ethnic Russian)...what would you have the Ukrainian government do, look the other way?

[lanlady]

8. that is absolutely FALSE

Russia has sent in thousands of heavily armed terrorists, criminals, and mercenaries into Donbass to fulfill Moscow's cynical, dangerous wet dream that Ukraine is part of Russia, not Europe. These are the same people, trained in Russia and loaded with advanced Russian weaponry who shot down MH17.

There was *never* any threat to ethnic Russians in this area. There was no ethnic cleansing, then or now. Ukraine is no Yugoslavia despite Putin's best efforts to pick a fight. It was a peaceful region until Putin's thugs decided to muck around. It is Ukraine's right to fight back against threats to its territorial integrity and statehood. Why is that so hard to understand?

[cosmicone]

9. The fact that there are refugees coming into Russia

speaks against your passionate and unsubstantiated view with a sumptuous serving of bias.

[msongs]

5. im sure putin welcomes all those former ukrainians who now want to officially be russians nt

[Pauldg47]

7. Potential future guerilla warfare within Russia.

I hope it backfires on Putin.