MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. The settlement of Severny in Kuybyshevsky district and Staromikhaylovka in Kirovsky district in Donetsk were shelled by Ukrainian forces on August 20, and two people were injured, the mayor’s office said on Friday.

"Around 6:30pm, as a result of direct hits in the Severny settlement damages were registered on Mirgorodskaya Street (one house), Engels Street (one house). Houses were also damaged on Grekov Street. Two people were injured," the administration said.

Kiev plans offensive to encircle Donetsk

The situation in east Ukraine has escalated throughout the recent weeks. New reports of victims among civilians testify as to the seriousness of the current aggravation. 

The spokesman for the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic said on Thursday that the militia have information that the Ukrainian armed forces are preparing an offensive in the Donetsk Region in east Ukraine.

"Information has been received about the plan of forthcoming actions by the Ukrainian army from a source in the Ukrainian General Staff and, no matter how strange this may seem, there are still true officers there who do not want to fight against their own people," Basurin said at a briefing in the press center of the Donetsk News Agency.

According to Basurin, the Ukrainian military will launch an offensive in the Mariupol and Debaltsevo directions after "artillery shelling of the DPR’s positions."

"Kiev plans to deliver two converging blows in the direction of the settlement of Uspenka to defeat the DPR and advance to the border with Russia and subsequently prevent civilians from reaching the Russian territory," Basurin said.

"Along with this, two groupings [of Kiev’s forces] are intended to launch an offensive in the Donetsk direction north and south of Donetsk towards Ilovaisk, close the circle around the republic’s capital and encircle the city," the spokesman said.

In the Luhansk direction, Kiev’s forces are planning to hold separate combat operations against the militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic to prevent their redeployment to provide support to the DPR, the spokesman said.

"Further on, active offensive operations will be launched in the Luhansk direction with the aim to advance to the border with Russia," Basurin said.

According to the DPR Defense Ministry, Kiev hopes this blitzkrieg will help it crush the militia and destroy the unrecognized republics.