LUGANSK, February 21. /TASS/. The number of shelling attacks staged by Ukrainian troops against the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) has increased eight-fold since February 17, with more that 1,77-shells being fired, the LPR’s mission to the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) said on Monday.
"Since February 17, 2022, in the period of the dramatic aggravation of the situation along the contact line, the LPR’s mission to the JCCC has registered 183 shelling attacks by Ukrainian troops, with 102 of them conducted with the use of heavy weapons. The daily number of shelling attacks has increased eight-fold. As many as 1,773 munitions - 268 artillery shells, 915 mines, 584 grenades, six anti-tank guided missiles - have been fired at the LPR’s territory," it wrote on its Telegram channel.
"In the period from February 17 through 21, two civilians were killed in the settlement of Pionerskoye, three civilians were wounded in the settlements of Prishib and Znamenka. Three acts of sabotage were committed by Ukrainian subversive groups: the explosions of gas pipes in the settlement of Malaya Vergunka and in Lugansk’s Kamennobrodsky district. One terror attack on a motorway linking Lugansk and Krasnodon was prevented," the mission said.
The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse in the morning of February 17. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics report the most massive shelling by the Ukrainian military over the past months. There have been reports of casualties and damages to civilian facilities.
Amid the mounting threat of combat actions, the self-proclaimed republics on Friday announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia. On Saturday, the Donbass republics announced general mobilization.