LUGANSK, March 13. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Armed Forces have shelled the settlements of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) three times over the past day, LPR office in the Joint Center on Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC) announced on Sunday.

"Three artillery bombardments by the armed formations of Ukraine at three settlements of the republic were recorded," the mission's Telegram channel said in a statement.

According to the mission, in the city of Irmino, as a result of shelling by the armed forces of Ukraine, one residential building was destroyed, three houses, an outbuilding, a school building and a medium-pressure gas pipeline were damaged. As a result, 15 subscribers were left without gas supply.

The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse in the morning of February 17. The DPR and LPR reported some of the most intensive shelling by Kiev’s armed forces in recent months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on 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.