On the line of contact in the DPR, fierce hostilities do not subside. On the morning of February 25, shooting was heard again in Donetsk. bbabo.netU use a large caliber. The Ukrainian side has been especially active in shelling Horlivka since early morning.

According to the mayor of the city Ivan Prikhodko, mortars and guns of 82, 120, 122, 125 and 152 mm calibers are used. Under fire were the village of the mine named after Gagarin and Zaitsevo. One of the Ukrainian shells fired at Gorlovka hit school No. 50. Two teachers were killed.

A zoo, a hospital and a mortuary in Dokuchaevsk, mines in Makeevka, and a railway station in Yasinovataya came under shelling. In Donetsk, the situation is so serious that the city had to temporarily stop the movement of some trolleybuses and trams, which has not happened for a long time.

There is little information about the situation that has developed directly on the line of demarcation.

The front has advanced seven kilometers. Now it is difficult to attack, because you have to overcome defense in depth. There are a lot of mined areas, - the militiaman Alexander, who returned for a while from the front line, told the correspondent.

But any information coming from the front end can quickly become outdated. According to the militias, tactical groups are being created to work in populated areas in order to avoid civilian casualties.

It is assumed that it will not be easy in Mariupol, where many nationalists from volunteer battalions have settled, equipping basements and attics for defense and planning to hide behind civilians.

The correspondent did not see Russian soldiers or Russian military equipment in Donetsk.

“I don’t have any information about them,” a militiaman who returned from the front line says wearily. - Only DPR fighters operate in our sector.

Meanwhile, mobilization continues in Donetsk. Donetsk residents go to the front en masse. In the usually empty lobby of the hotel, where the correspondent is staying, there is a revival. At the exit, men in civilian clothes with bags and backpacks gathered. There is a bus in front of the hotel.

- This is our staff mobilize - explains the girl-administrator at the reception.

More Donetsk residents are arriving at the military enlistment offices and collection points.

“The situation has changed a lot,” Artem, a resident of Donetsk, explains. - Previously, there were fewer people who wanted to go to the front line. Many simply did not see the point of sitting in a trench for years in an endless positional war, when it is not always possible even to respond to shelling. Now it's different. The offensive has begun, it is inspiring. People went to recruiting stations and will continue to come.

In the gymnasium of the school, adapted as a dispatch point for conscripts and volunteers, there are men of different ages - from very young students to pensioners. They sit on long benches, school chairs, rest on mattresses along the walls. The desks brought in from the classes are recorded and distributed.

At 23.00, a curfew begins in Donetsk. Not only residents of the DPR are enrolled in the militia. Eduard, who arrived in Donetsk from Surgut, cannot wait to be assigned to the front line. He already participated in the battles for the DPR as a volunteer and now did not want to stand aside.

- And I'm not the only one. My friends from Siberia and the North call me. They also want to come. I hope to go to my unit where I am well known. I specially bought a car in Rostov for 120 thousand. An old one, it’s not a pity if it gets under fire, ”says Eduard.

During the day, the shelling of Donetsk and Makeevka sharply intensifies. Loud explosions are heard in the city center. In the Kirovsky district, a Ukrainian shell destroyed a residential building, a tank farm caught fire, and a pipeline was damaged. In the Kuibyshev region, a shell hit the store. The fragments damaged houses and cars of local residents. A man is wounded.

- There was a hit of two shells in a residential building and in the service station - at least three hits. Residential buildings, cars, gas pipes were damaged. Emergency services have now stopped the gas leak. Presumably the shelling was carried out from "Gradov". The victim is in the hospital, - investigators working at the scene of the shelling say. Nearby - the private sector, the damaged "Volga", fragments of broken glass underfoot. There is a furniture store and a car shop here. A Donetsk resident who was choosing a spare part ended up in the hospital.

- All the windows flew out. It was terrible. Strong explosions, probably large guns fired. We hid in the bathroom, crouched down and sat there all this time,” says Natalya, whose house was hit by shelling.

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