DONETSK, February 24. /TASS/. Russia’s special military operation foiled Ukrainian plans to launch a large-scale offensive in Donbass, preventing thousands of civilian deaths, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Head Denis Pushilin said.
"At that time, the enemy was preparing for a very serious offensive, almost everything was ready. The countdown was not even weeks, but days. According to our calculations, there were 7 to 10 days left, at most, before the enemy moved into a large-scale offensive. For Donbass, for our cities and densely populated settlements, it would essentially mean artillery shelling, urban combat and thousands, even tens of thousands of victims among the civilian population," Pushilin told the Solovyov Live TV channel.
He added that this intel was later confirmed by the large amount of weapons and ammunition that the Ukrainian army had gathered in Donbass. The arsenals were discovered by Russian troops during the special military operation.
The special military operation began on February 24, 2022, by the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Its goals are demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as neutralizing threats coming from the regime in Kiev.