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Ukraine’s emergencies service reports Lutsk TV tower blast, army depots ablaze

The Ukrainian Emergencies Service also reported fires at military units in the Vinnitsa and Kiev Regions

KIEV, February 24. /TASS/. Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service reported on Thursday that a blast hit the TV Tower in Lutsk and army depots were ablaze in several regions.

According to the data posted on the Emergencies Service’s Telegram channel, fire swept through an ammunition depot in the village of Olshanitsa in the Kiev Region and two army depots in the Dnepropetrovsk Region. The fuel and lubricants depot in a military garrison in the Khmelnitsky Region and army depots in the Poltava and Cherkasy Regions were also ablaze.

The Ukrainian Emergencies Service reported fires at military units in the Vinnitsa and Kiev Regions. It said that a shell had fallen on the territory of an arms depot in the Zhitomir Region. It also reported the shelling of military units in the Lvov region and Ivano-Frankovsk. Seven houses were on fire in Mariupol, it reported.

Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service reported earlier on Thursday that its website had been temporarily switched off "in the wake of a cyber-threat" and all operational information would be posted in the social media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning 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.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later on Thursday that Russian troops were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. It emphasized that Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed by precision weapons.

Civilians are not threatened, it assured.