LUGANSK, March 3. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces bombarded the community of Zolotoye-5, using Grad multiple rocket launchers, the mission of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to the Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center reported on Thursday.
At 16:10, the Ukrainian army fired 40 shells from BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers on Zolotoye-5, the LPR mission said.
The information about casualties and destruction is being specified, it added.
The situation at the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on the morning of February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military over past months, which damaged civilian infrastructure and caused civilian casualties.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders.
President Putin said in a televised address on the morning of February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.