Lugansk Leader Accuses Ukrainian Forces of Using Scorched Earth Tactics During Retreat

Lugansk and Donetsk forces, and the Russian ministry of defence, have repeatedly accused Ukrainian volunteer ultra-nationalist forces of using heavy artillery against urban areas they’ve retreated from.

Ukrainian nationalist forces retreating from settlements in Lugansk are destroying everything in their path, Lugansk People’s Republic head Leonid Pasechnik has alleged.

“The armed formations of the Ukro-fascists, realizing the hopelessness of their resistance, in their impotent hatred are destroying everything in their path during their retreat. They open fire on residential buildings, mine the area, destroy objects of civilian infrastructure. This criminal regime has showed its true face,” Pasechnik said, speaking to Russian media on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the Russian defence ministry accused the Azov Detachment – an openly neo-Nazi unit of the Ukrainian National Guard, of using heavy Grad artillery to strike residential areas and a school on the outskirts of the frontline city of Mariupol, killing multiple civilians.

A day earlier, the Russian MoD accused nationalist forces of shelling residential areas in Starobelsk in the formerly-Kiev-controlled part of Lugansk region, also using Grad launchers, after retreating from the city, again causing casualties among local residents.

On Sunday, Russian forces charged Ukrainian formations with the use of munitions filled with phosphorus near Gostomel Airport outside Kiev on a widespread basis. The use of such arms is banned under the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980.

In a related development, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Friday that Ukrainian forces were deliberately placing Grad launchers in residential areas of Kiev, including Shevchenko Square –a tactic allegedly taught to them by US trainers aimed at maximizing civilian casualties in the event of retaliatory fire.

The Russian military maintains that it has done everything possible to prevent the operation in Ukraine from turning into a bloody quagmire in heavily populated areas, and its forces have largely avoided cities during the first three days of the operation to avoid civilian casualties. Moscow has also distinguished between the ultra-nationalist volunteer battalions, such as Azov, and the regular Ukrainian army. On Friday, President Putin called on Ukraine’s military to seize power from the “gang of junkies and neo-Nazis” in Kiev.

Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine on Thursday following a formal request for assistance from its DPR and LPR allies as they sought to cope from growing attacks from Ukrainian forces. Moscow recognized the republics as independent states on Monday.