Ukrainian troops continue to shell Donetsk outskirts

DONETSK, Feb.20, (ST)- The Kiev government forces continued to shell the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) early on Sunday, including the self-proclaimed republic’s largest city of Donetsk, the DPR mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said.

At 02:16 Moscow time, Ukrainian forces once again shelled the settlement of Staromikhailovka on the western outskirts of Donetsk. It was the sixth shelling attack on the area since midnight. The settlements of Zaytsevo Yuzhnoye and Spartak, a village north of Donetsk, also came under mortar fire in the reported period.

After 03:00 Moscow time, six shelling incidents were registered in the republic, including in Dokuchayevsk, Staromikhailovka, Spartak, as well as villages Novolaspa and Leninskoye in the south of the republic.

Two more shelling attacks, targeting Dokuchayevsk and Yelenkovka, occurred at 04:25 and 04:37 local time.

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 forces in recent months. The shelling damaged some civilian facilities.

On Friday, the leaders of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR), Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, announced the evacuation of the republics’ inhabitants to Russia, citing the increasing threat of hostilities. All-out mobilization was announced in the republics on Saturday.

Two civilians in Lugansk dead

Moreover, TASS reported that two civilians of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) died on Sunday in an attempt by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to breakthrough near the village of Pionerskoye, 7 km from the border with Russia, according to the People’s Militia of the LPR.

“As a result of the aggression of the Kiev militants, two civilians were killed, 5 residential buildings were destroyed,” the report said.

The defense department of the LPR specified that on Sunday morning, Ukrainian forces supported by artillery crossed the Seversky Donets River and tried to attack the positions of the people’s militia. “Our defenders repulsed the attack and pushed the enemy back to their previously occupied positions. There were no losses among the personnel,” the report said.

Over 40,000 Donbass residents arrive in Russia’s Rostov region

Furthermore, more than 40,000 residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR) arrived in the Rostov region in the south of Russa, acting head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Alexander Chupriyan told reporters on Sunday.

“More than 40,000 people who were forced to leave Ukraine arrived in Russia. Now they are placed in the Rostov region in temporary accommodations,” he said.

Chupriyan said that there is hot food in each temporary accommodation point, communication has been set up.

The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse on the morning of February 17. The Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics reported some of the most intensive shelling by Kiev forces in recent months. The shelling damaged some civilian facilities.

Compiled by: Basma Qaddour