\n<\/p>\n

Russia<\/a> has deployed forces to Ukrainian<\/a> hospitals and schools to use the civilians as \u201chuman shields\u201d from an expected counteroffensive<\/a>, according to Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adversary continues to use educational institutions of the temporarily occupied territories, having them re-purposed as military facilities, hiding behind a human shield of schoolchildren and the teaching staff,\u201d the Ukrainian General Staff asserted in a Friday evening update.<\/p>\n

CHINA BRAGS ABOUT US CASUALTIES IN KOREAN WAR<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Ukrainian officials are preparing for a major effort to reclaim some of the southern and eastern Ukrainian territory seized when Russian troops poured out of Crimea<\/a> and the occupied regions of Donbas last February. Yet Russian forces have worked to fortify their positions across southern and eastern Ukraine while clinging to a massive nuclear power plant near the front lines, and the campaign to drive them back could be fraught with practical and moral hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, Russian occupation troops are stationed in the building of a local school in the settlement of Lubyanka (Luhansk oblast),\u201d the general staff said. \u201cThe personnel is stationed in the buildings of educational institutions, as they force the teaching staff to continue the educational process, with the attendance of children and teaching staff being mandatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strike could deliver the first substantial advance of Ukrainian troops since the fall counteroffensive spurred Russia to withdraw from key territories and begin to mobilize conscripts. Ukrainian forces are expected to attempt to break through the so-called land bridge linking Russian forces in the southern peninsula of Crimea to Donbas and mainland Russia further north, though recently leaked U.S. intelligence assessments cast doubt on the likely extent of their success.<\/p>\n

“The counteroffensive should not be considered a decisive battle,\u201d Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said<\/a> Friday. \u201cIf one counteroffensive will be needed, there will be one. If we will need two or more, it will be so. This is not a conflict that can be frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact path of the impending counteroffensive is a closely guarded secret \u2014 \u201cno more than five people\u201d have access to the battle plans, a senior adviser to Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksii Danilov said on April 6 \u2014 but Russian officials have added new fortifications around Zaporizhzhia, a partially occupied region north of Crimea and Kherson but south of Donbas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Russian assessment appears to be that the Ukrainians\u2019 most likely and most dangerous place to attack is in the south, particularly in Zaporizhzhia,\u201d retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan told<\/a> Reuters<\/i> this week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an anxious prospect for international observers due to Russia\u2019s occupation of a Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. U.N. nuclear experts at the plant \u201cwere again forced to shelter this week after missile attack warnings,\u201d according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, one landmine exploded near the site,\u201d the IAEA added.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has accused Russia of militarizing the power plant while using the threat of a nuclear disaster to deter Ukrainian counterattacks. \u201cThat brings the notion of having a human shield to an entirely different and horrific level,\u201d Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last year.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The new military updates suggest that more conventional versions of that dilemma are strewn across the occupied territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe occupiers re-purposed the local hospital in Kalanchak (Kherson oblast) into a military hospital, where a large number of gravely wounded Russians were brought to on April 27,\u201d the general staff said. “The enemy used a KAMAZ-based medical truck to transport the casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Russia has deployed forces to Ukrainian hospitals and schools to use the civilians as \u201chuman shields\u201d from an expected counteroffensive, according to Ukrainian officials. \u201cThe adversary continues to use educational institutions of the temporarily occupied territories, having them re-purposed as military facilities, hiding behind a human shield of schoolchildren and the teaching staff,\u201d the Ukrainian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1921047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[4640,8221,5576,4280,23006,16508,6991],"class_list":["post-1921046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-accuses","tag-hiding","tag-human","tag-russia","tag-schoolchildren","tag-shield","tag-ukraine"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1921046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1921047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1921046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1921046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1921046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}