MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. Militants of Ukrainian nationalist battalions and troops of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have opened fire on houses in Nikolayevka (the Lugansk People’s Republic) using artillery guns, which resulted in casualties, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Saturday.

"In Nikolayevka of the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Kiev regime has carried out another devious action. During the provocation, militants of nationalist battalions and servicemen of Ukraine’s Armed Forces shelled residential buildings using artillery guns. As a result, civilians were killed or wounded," said Mizintsev, who heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters in Ukraine.

According to the colonel-general, the false-flag operation was filmed by journalists of the New York Times and Ukrainian media outlets to show alleged "Russian atrocities."

"These actions of the Ukrainian authorities once again demonstrate their total indifference to civilians in Ukraine," Mizintsev added.