Media: artillery fire is heard in Lugansk.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are evicting civilians from the houses of the cities of Zolote and Popasnaya in the Donbass to settle their military personnel, the People’s Militia of the LPR said.
The Ukrainian military is resettling personnel in the houses of the local residents in settlements near the line of contact in the Donbass, Ivan Filiponenko, an official representative of the LPR defense department, told the reporters.
Earlier, the representative office of the LPR in the JCCC reported that residential buildings of houses were damaged as a result of shelling of a village near Lugansk. The LPR stated that the situation on the line of contact remains critical.
“The arrival of personnel from the formed territorial defense units is noted for the completion of the 30th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to information received from residents of the territory occupied by Kiev, under the pretext of a planned evacuation of the population, the military-civil administration is evicting civilians from houses in the village of Zolote ( disputed city near the line of contact – ed.) and Popasnaya (under the control of Kiev – ed.),” Filiponenko said.
He specified that about 60 people were taken out of the settlements.
“The liberated houses were settled by the militants of the territorial defense,” Filiponenko specified.
The leadership of the DPR and LPR announced the temporary evacuation of citizens to the Rostov region in connection with the threat of Ukraine’s invasion. First of all, the evacuation concerns women, children and the elderly. The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky may soon order the military to go on the offensive, to implement a plan to invade the DPR and LPR. On Saturday, February 19, the leaders of the DPR and LPR signed decrees on general mobilization, and then turned to Russia with a request to recognize the independence of the republics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 said in a televised address that he considers it necessary to immediately recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. He noted that the world prefers not to notice the horror and genocide in the Donbass, not a single day goes by without shelling and killing of civilians, and blockades do not stop. Immediately after the appeal, he signed decrees recognizing the LNR and the DNR. Putin also instructed to ensure the maintenance of peace in the DPR and LPR by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.