LUGANSK, April 20. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops are leaving the area of Rubezhny, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, the LuganskInformCenter news agency reported on Wednesday.
"According to the information available as of now, Ukrainian troops are leaving the so-called triangle in large numbers these minutes: the Rubezhny, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk area. For the time being, I won’t say where, what and how in order not to disclose the operational situation," the agency quoted its source as saying.
As the source said, there is the hope that the situation will develop like in Kremennaya. "They simply left and that was all. Further on, a lot of ‘surprises" are awaiting them in other places and they know about that and that is why I believe that there will be another mass surrender to peacekeeping forces," the source said.
The situation at the line of engagement in Donbass escalated on February 17. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) reported the most massive bombardments by the Ukrainian military in recent 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 recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as of the beginning of 2014.
Russian President 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 Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.
The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.