Ukrainian authorities have not allowed an Israeli citizen to leave the country and sent him to Donbass to fight, the Lugansk People’s Republic People’s Militia press service said.
The Ukrainian army’s 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade 5th Battalion reconnaissance officer Vladimir Kozlovsky was taken prisoner outside Lisichansk. He said that he wanted to leave Ukraine together with his family as the special operation began.
“When the war began, my wife and I wanted to leave the country; I’m also an Israeli citizen. I met with an Israeli consul, they gave me a special certificate that had to help me exit the country. But border guards stopped me in Uzhgorod and did not let me out. I sent my wife and the child away from the country."
Soon thereafter, Kozlovsky was mobilized to the Ukrainian army and sent to a Donbass war zone.
LPR militiamen have been advancing towards Severodonetsk and Lisichansk since early March; taking these towns is a priority of the LPR Defense Ministry. The defense in depth organized by Kiev forces and their use of civilians as a human shield complicate the liberation of the towns. On top of that, the area accommodates several large chemical companies. On June 25, LPR militiamen and Russian forces took under full control the industrial zone of the Azov works in Severodonetsk. The fighting for Lisichansk is ongoing.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Earlier, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance. As of now, some 95 percent of the LPR territory is liberated.
The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014. The peace talks participants have announced ceasefire more than 20 times since the autumn of 2014. Kiev forces regularly violated the truce opening fire with large caliber artillery, mortars and tank guns which were to have been withdrawn from the contact line under the accords. *i*s
