According to Censor.NET, on February 20, 2022, the settlements of Krasnogorovka, the village of Luganskoye, Opytnoye, Shchastia, Novotoshkovskoye, Svetlodarsk, Stanytsia Luganskaya, Opytnoye, Avdeevka, Bolotenny, Staroignatovka, Novoignatovka fell under the shelling of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). According to Ukrainian media reports, “separatists” shelled the Ukrainian-held territory mostly using weapons with a caliber of 122, 120, 82 mm. In some areas, the use of weapons with a caliber of 152 mm, anti-tank missile systems, automatic easel grenade launchers is reported.
The DPR army firing an anti-tank missile system destroyed the stronghold of the Ukrainian army near Dokuchaevsk. This position was being used to attack the lines of the People’s Militia.
A house in Zheleznoye village was damaged after being shelled by 120 mm calibre. No human casualties were reported.
During the clashes, one solider of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was wounded by shrapnel and is now receiving medical assistance. His condition is reported as stable.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, in the village of Novoignatovka, Donetsk region, as a result of the DPR forces’ shelling, 14 civilisan houses were damaged, two of them beyond repair. In addition, the residents of the village were left without electricity and gas.
Shrapnel damaged one civilian car, power lines, a gas pipeline and a transformer.
This is the second massive shelling of Novognatovka by mortars and artillery over the past two days. Last night, during the shelling of this settlement, 19 households were damaged, and windows of the local school were shattered by a blast wave.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov declared that the strike force of the Russian Federation has not yet been formed in any place where they cordoned off Ukraine.
There is no clear evidence that Russia will attack Ukraine tomorrow. But this does not mean that there is no threat.
The Minister of Defense also noted that Ukraine will closely observe the meeting of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on February 22. At this meeting, the issue of recognizing the LDPR as independent states will be considered.
The UNIAN reported, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny decided to speed up the accreditation of foreign journalists to work on the front line by up to 48 hours, if they had previously submitted the necessary set of documents to the press center of the Joint Forces Operation. This became possible due to joint work Commander with the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The press center is ready to quickly resolve all issues and shorten the time of processing journalists’ requests for accreditation.
From today, all barriers to the admission of leading foreign media will be removed. Despite this, the conditions for submitting documents to the press center of the JFO, restrictions on state secrets and security measures during the work of journalists remain. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in case of a delay in admitting journalists to the JFO area, it is necessary to immediately inform the headquaters.
Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Airlines (Swiss) and SAS have announced the complete or partial suspension of flights to Ukraine.
The press service of Austrian Airlines reported that flights to Kiev and Odessa are being suspended until the end of February. At the same time, flights from Vienna to Lviv will be carried out on a regular basis. Swiss will suspend flights on its only route to Ukraine Kiev-Zurich until February 28. The company emphasized that they also refused to use the airspace of Ukraine for transit flights. The SAS spokesman reported that the airline will not carry out flights in Ukrainian airspace until February 27. A decision on the March 1 flight will be made later. The German airline Lufthansa suspended all flights to Kiev until February 28.
Information is being widely disseminated in the Ukrainian media about a large-scale provocative information campaign being carried out by Donetsk and Luhansk media with the support of Russian side. According to the Ukrainian point of view, the forces of the people’s militia of the LDPR are shelling their own territory in order to accuse the Ukrainian army of violating the ceasefire. Residential buildings, infrastructure facilities, schools and kindergartens are damaged by shells. This information is not confirmed by the OSCE observers working in the areas of combat clashes.
The accusations of acts of aggression raised by the Ukrainian side, perpetuated by “separatists” cannot be compared with the scale of destruction and shelling caused by Kiev, which has been documented by video and photographic evidence by the DPR. The main aim is to provoke an open armed conflict on the territory of Donbass with Russian participation
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