MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Ukraine’s right-wing extremist Azov Special Operations Unit has attacked residential areas and a school near the city of Mariupol with the BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, Chief Spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday, noting that some casualties among civilians were reported.

"On February 26, from 16:00 to 16:20, the Ukrainian nationalists from the Azov Special Operations Unit attacked residential areas of the Sartana village near Mariupol and [the city] school. As a result, several residential buildings were damaged and some civilians were killed," the spokesman noted.

Konashenkov also mentioned that the Russian Defense Ministry warned about plotting such provocations by Ukrainian nationalists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.