KIEV, February 23. /TASS/. One Ukrainian army serviceman died in the conflict zone in Donbass, while another was injured and transferred to a hospital, the headquarters of the Ukrainian military operation reported on Wednesday.

"As a result of shelling, one of the Ukrainian servicemen sustained fatal shrapnel wounds. One serviceman was hurt and is now being treated at a medical facility," the headquarters said on Facebook.

Tensions escalated along the line of contact in eastern Ukraine on the morning of February 17. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR) reported the heaviest shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in months. On February 18, the heads of the LPR and DPR, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, announced the evacuation of the republics’ residents to Russia. General mobilization was ordered in the Donbass republics on February 19.

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees at the ceremony in the Kremlin on recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Putin met with DPR and LPR leaders, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, and signed with them the treaties on friendship, cooperation, and mutual aid between Russia and both republics.