Sunday's shelling of the Kalinin hospital in occupied Donetsk and the shelling of Russian Belgorod shows not that the Russians have created an additional casus belli, but that Putin's army is trying to encourage even more of the population to go to war.

Military experts told

about this in a comment for

TSN.ua.

"There, no one wants to die for Putin's stupid whims, so an informational excuse is created. This is done so

that there are more people willing to fight.

Like, look at what the Ukrainian army is doing - it kills civilians, it kisses hospitals," says a military expert , former spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

, Vladyslav Seleznyov

. - Forgive my cynicism, but we don't have so much artillery to spend on civilian objects. It is more important to destroy the enemy's military infrastructure. Similarly, with regard to the situation in Russian Belgorod, it is completely irrational to use weapons against civilian objects that are there."

In turn, another military expert,

Petro Chernyk

, answered the question of why it is profitable for the occupiers to shell, for example, a hospital in particular: "It's very simple - they themselves shell everything they can shell with a very simple propaganda thesis: see , what inhumane these Nazis are. The occupiers make it clear to their population that, they say, if we don't organize around the "great leader", then they, these Nazis, will attack us. The shelling of the hospital

is nothing more than the depopulation of Ukrainians

. This is an elevation to the highest a point of moral consolidation. A propaganda classic."

To this, Chernyk adds: "A tyrannical regime can only survive when there is a consolidation of its own population around it. If a tyrant loses faith in himself from his population, he loses his life. Let us recall the fate of Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, and Slobodan Milosevic. The latter under mysterious circumstances died in a European prison. There are many such examples. The Russians are in a strategic trap. They don't know how to get out of there. Their defeat is growing. They are well aware and most afraid of their own internal rebellion. It is unlikely yet, but the prerequisites for it are in place." .

The expert does not rule out that in the near future the occupiers will

fire at their other civilian objects

.

"They must keep the population in endless propaganda narratives. We remember the three principles of Goebbels: there must be a lot of propaganda, it must be clear, simple and it must be endless."

Shelling of Donetsk and Belgorod: what is known

Yesterday, December 18,

explosions rang out in

temporarily occupied Donetsk .

"Donbas Arena" and a hospital came under fire. 

This was reported by separatist telegram channels and the occupation "authorities" of Donetsk.

Fires broke out in some places in Donetsk.

The occupiers traditionally blamed the armed forces for the attacks on the city.

In addition, also yesterday, December 18,

in the Russian city of Belgorod

, which is 40 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border, explosions were heard again.

According to the official version, the air defense system is working.

Fragments of rockets from Russian air defense damaged windows in high-rise buildings and cars.

The Russian authorities have already managed to inform about the victims. 

Read also: 

  • Putin, accompanied by a fighter jet, flew to Minsk and was met by Lukashenko

  • Explosions are heard in occupied Donetsk: "Donbas Arena" came under fire

  • The Russians do not release people who want to leave the occupation to Zaporizhzhia - Fedorov