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What the Donetsk attack of 26 March 2021 signalled
Summary
A look back at a separatist rocket strike that killed four Ukrainian troops and wounded two others in Donetsk Oblast.
What made 26 March 2021 stand out on the Donbass front? A separatist rocket attack on a Ukrainian military position in Donetsk Oblast killed four troops and wounded two others. It was the worst loss of life for Ukrainian forces in a single attack since 2019.
The toll matters because of the comparison. Ukrainian forces had not lost so many people in one strike for roughly two years, which made this attack a clear break from the pattern of the preceding period.
The war in Donbass was not the only military confrontation involving Russia in the region that month. On 21 March 2021, according to the Turkish Ministry of National Defense, Russian jets struck gas facilities in Sarmada, in Syria's Idlib Governorate near the Turkish border, and hit Qah with a surface-to-surface missile. Turkey said it had sent Russia a statement asking for the attacks to stop immediately.
The two episodes took place in different theatres and are separate events. Taken together, they show that armed incidents were continuing on more than one front around the Black Sea region in the final week of March 2021.
