Kyiv Post: After Debaltseve Defeat, What Next?: Out from Debaltseve hell and back to the trenches

ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine – Less than 24 hours after breaking out of the encirclement in Debaltseve on top of a tank, junior lieutenant Taras Savchuk was digging trenches at the new front line some 46 kilometers northwest, near Artemivsk, on. Feb. 19.

Savchuk, 25, who worked as agronomist in Khmelnytsky Oblast before being drafted to the 30th Mechanized Brigade, said his unit was lucky to survive during a dramatic escape under fire. He said he saw at least five Ukrainian soldiers killed while fleeing from Debaltseve on Feb. 18.

Now Savchuk thinks that Russian troops and their proxies will advance despite the Feb. 12 Minsk cease-fire agreement, which the Kremlin has already ignored. “Most probably they won’t stop and will try to capture Artemivsk and then Sloviansk,” Savchuk told the Kyiv Post, as he cleaned his Kalashnikov with a toothbrush.

WNU Editor: After the fall of Debaltseve I expected the fighting to die down significantly .... but it has not. The fighting is spreading, and attempts to implement the ceasefire on the ground continue to fail . There is now a growing fear on the Ukrainian side that the next attack will be on the coastal city of Mariupol (see above video).