LUGANSK, December 8. /TASS/. Over 140 civilians have been killed in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and another 423 have suffered wounds since late February, the LPR mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination said on Thursday.
"The Ukrainian armed forces’ aggression affected 564 civilians in the reported period, with 141 people killed and 423 wounded. Seven children were killed and 29 suffered wounds in shelling attacks," the mission said in a statement on Telegram.
A total of 1,299 Ukrainian shelling attacks against the LPR were recorded over this time, which involved more than 11,000 munitions, including 544 US-made HIMARS rockets, over 2,700 Grad, Uragan and Smerch rockets, and 162 NATO-standard 155 mm munitions.
According to the mission, Ukrainian strikes damaged 356 civilian infrastructure sites, including 85 educational and 16 medical facilities.
Tensions escalated along the line of contact in Donbass on February 17. Back then, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics reported the heaviest shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in months. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as they were at the beginning of 2014, based on the DPR and LPR constitutions. On February 24, Putin announced Moscow’s special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The first attack involving HIMARS systems provided to Kiev by Western countries was recorded in Donbass on June 28. The strike targeted the LPR city of Perevalsk.