LUGANSK, August 6. /TASS/. An apartment building in the town of Alchevsk, in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), was hit by a HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) rocket, the LPR mission to the Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center reported.
"Ukrainian military shelled town of Alchevsk at 6:45 p.m. local time using HIMARS (one rocket was launched)," the mission said in a statement.
Alchevsk Mayor Albert Apshev told TASS late on Saturday that a number of civilians injured after a Ukrainian shell hit an apartment building in LPR’s Alchevsk totaled 13 and one person was reported to be killed.
"Fourteen people have been affected. One of them was killed. Four children were injured, one of them is in intensive care," he said.
Rescuers extinguished a fire that engulfed the nine-story building after the strike of the Ukrainian shell, the building is badly damaged, Apshev said.
The mayor added that up to 12 houses were damaged by shattered glass and the following shockwave. Three kindergartens and a school also sustained damages. He noted that the residents of the building, which was hit by the shell, were accommodated at a social facility.
On July 3, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the LPR had been liberated from the Ukrainian army. Nevertheless, Ukrainian troops deliver occasional strikes on the republic from bordering areas.
The situation along 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, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow 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 announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance 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.