MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. The Ukrainian forces keep shelling residential areas in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the DPR leader, Denis Pushilin, said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel on Thursday.
"We still see that on certain sections of the engagement line there have been bombardments of residential areas. Regrettably, this is so. We have been taking all possible steps to minimize the risk of strikes against civilian population," he said.
"They use heavy weapons. There is nothing new or out of the ordinary. But the heavy weapons that they use are quite enough to kill and injure civilian population," Pushilin added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request from the Donbass republics’ heads he made a decision to conduct a special military operation in Donbass. The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces were not dealing strikes against Ukrainian cities. Smart weapons were being used exclusively to put military infrastructures out of order.