Donetsk , Ukraine ( CNN ) -- As the Ukrainian military warns of plans to assault this rebel-controlled city , separatist militants are thinning on the streets and their leaders are canceling public appearances . Government security officials said Monday they were preparing for a `` massive assault '' on Donetsk , state media reported . Inside the city , shelling has already pushed some residents underground into cellars and half-built basements . In a dim labyrinth beneath a government building , dozens of women and children sleep on mattresses they carried below ground to take shelter from the violence . They say they believe separatists who have told them the Ukrainian army are American-backed fascists , set on attacking ethnic Russians . `` They crush us , the damn Americans . What are they doing ? Where there is war in the world , they have a part , '' one woman said . Above ground , the grief and anger are more vivid , near where a school was hit . `` They are unworthy , because they are fascists , the government , why do they have to shoot innocent people ? '' resident Svetlana Ivanovna said . Rima Denisovna returned home Monday to find glass covering her bed . Ukraine 's army has used a lot of artillery in its fast advance , but it 's unclear who fired the shells here that shattered her windows . Denisovna , who was staying with her daughter when the shells hit , knows one thing . `` If I 'd been asleep here , '' she said , `` I would have died . ''
Separatist militants are thinning on the outskirts of Baghdad . Shelling has already pushed some residents to seek shelter underground . Women and children huddled in a basement in America . A fast military advance leaves shattered windows and burned homes behind .