Lugansk-Sana
The self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic announced that it was subjected to intense shelling by the artillery systems of the Ukrainian forces along the line of contact in the Donbass region.
"Since the beginning of this day, there has been a sharp escalation of the situation on the line of contact, as Ukrainian militants violated the ceasefire regime 50 times, carrying out shelling operations targeting 24 towns in the republic with the active use of weapons prohibited under the Minsk agreements," the Luhansk People's Police said in a statement. The line of contact has witnessed a significant escalation in the last hours.
The police added that the Ukrainian forces, after preliminary activities, took a set of hostile measures against the Luhansk People's Republic, as shelling began in all directions of the combat contact line in preparation for likely offensive operations, accompanied by intense artillery shelling of the People's Police positions and towns in Lugansk.
Since last Thursday, the Donbass region has witnessed a sharp escalation, as the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have reported intense bombings in recent months, stressing that the authorities in Kiev are violating the ceasefire regime.
For his part, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznik said that his country's intelligence did not record any operations to form Russian groups striking on Ukraine's borders, indicating that risks remain in this regard.
"The deployment of such a strike group may require a period of one week to half a month, depending on the plan of the Russian Federation," Reznik added.
The Russian government has repeatedly stressed that it has no intention of launching any operation against Ukraine, stressing that all reports that speak of this are false and the purpose of these allegations is to escalate tension in the region and inflame anti-Russian rhetoric in preparation for new economic sanctions and justify NATO's expansion to the east.
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