Donetsk: Ukrainian forces continue bombing civilians in Donbass

The representative of the Donetsk Republic in the Joint Center for Monitoring and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime issued an official statement saying that Ukrainian artillery shelled the area 26 times, and 323 artillery shells were fired within 24 hours.

The statement added that the systematic bombardment affected residential homes, injuring 11 people, including three children.

Today, Friday, the Deputy Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin told the Rossiya-24 TV channel that civilians are being prevented from leaving the Ukrainian city of Mariupol through a humanitarian corridor.

"Azov and Pravy Sektor members are preventing people from leaving through the humanitarian corridor that we established for civilians. They are detaining people. They are taking those detained to the basement of a school on Gastello Street in Mariupol. There are more than 60 people there at the moment, half of them being women and children," he said.

He added that Mariupol is still under the control of the Ukrainian army and forces, and the Russian armed forces are encircling the city and "eliminating the Nazi groups present in it."

It is noteworthy that Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the goal of the special military operation is to protect people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime for the past eight years.

The operation aims to prevent the demilitarization and disarmament of Ukraine and to bring to justice all those responsible for the bloody crimes against civilians in Donbass.

Russian armed forces destroyed military facilities of Ukraine

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian armed forces have bombed Ukrainian military facilities and forces without harming civilians.

Since the start of the special operation, Russian armed forces have disabled over 1,800 Ukrainian military targets, according to Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov.

"The Russian armed forces continue to strike at the military infrastructure of Ukraine. In total, 1,812 targets were hit during the operation, including 65 command posts and communication centers of the Ukrainian military, 56 S-300, Buk M-1 and Osa air defense missile systems, 59 radar stations," Konashenkov told reporters.

49 aircraft on the ground and 13 aircraft in the air, 635 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 67 multiple rocket launchers, 252 field artillery pieces and mortars, 442 special military vehicles, and 54 unmanned aerial vehicles are among the destroyed facilities.