Donetsk, Mar 29 - DAN. Ukrainian armed formations have opened fire at the Donetsk People’s Republic territory almost 1,500 times since the Donbass fighting began to escalate in mid-February, the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) reported on Tuesday.
“Ukrainian armed formations have killed 67 civilians over 40 days of escalation. Of the 742 people wounded in the designated period, 487 are residents of liberated areas including 53 children,” the report said.
During this period, 1,765 houses, 457 civil infrastructure facilities and 246 vehicles have been damaged in enemy strikes. Ukrainian armed formations shell northern and western Donetsk, Gorlovka, Dokuchayevsk, Yasinovataya and their suburbs almost every day. The enemy expended 17,440 rounds of ammunition overall including 24 Tochka U tactical missiles and 1,564 BM-21 “Grad” (multiple launch rocket system) missiles.
Ukrainian army began to deliver massive strikes with all kinds of armaments at the Donbass Republics on February 16, and on February 18, the DPR and LPR authorities decided to carry out mass evacuation in order to save people’s lives. A day later, the People’s Republics announced full mobilization. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of independence of the Donbass Republics and on February 24, responding to their leaders’ requests for assistance, he announced the beginning of a special operation aimed at demilitarization and denazificiation of Ukraine. *jk