MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Ukrainian nationalist formations are shelling populated localities from the premises of a coke-chemical plant in Avdeyevka in order to elicit return fire of Russian troops, head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Mikhail Mizintsev said on Tuesday.

He stressed that the militants had brought civilians to the plant’s premises to use them as human shields. "That said, the militants deployed the artillery and MLRS at the enterprise and use them to systematically shell the nearby populated localities," said Mizintsev who also heads Russia’s Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine.

According to the military official, their goal is to elicit return fire. "Following this, using a well-rehearsed scenario with a wide media coverage, they will pin the blame on Russia’s Armed Forces and the units of the Donetsk People’s Republic for the deaths of civilians caused by allegedly indiscriminate strikes," he added.