DONETSK, February 28./TASS/. Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue artillery strikes on Donetsk, the mission of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on Monday.
Massive shelling was reported at 13:20 local time (same time in Moscow), when Ukrainian troops fired 15 122mm shells on Donetsk. At 13:40, the Ukrainian army fired another 35 shells of 152mm caliber, the mission wrote on its Telegram channel. At 15:00, they once again shelled Donetsk, firing two 152mm shells, as well as four 120mm shells, the mission said.
Tensions escalated along the line of contact in Donbass on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics reported the heaviest shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in months, which caused civilian casualties and damaged civilian infrastructure facilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the leaders of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation. The Russian head of state 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 through the use of precision weapons. Civilians are not threatened, the Russian military assured.