DONETSK, Feb 18A strong explosion thundered in the center of Donetsk, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports. According to him, this happened a few dozen meters from the DPR government building. Now fire is visible at the site of the explosion, nearby buildings are not damaged. There is no information about the victims yet. The People's Militia of the DPR confirmed reports of the incident: at about 19:00 Moscow time, a car was blown up in the parking lot near the government house. to the maximum movement around the city,» the message says in the official Telegram channel of the People's Militia of the DNR. He noted that, in agreement with the Russian authorities, a place was allocated in the Rostov region for the population of the DPR and LPR, conditions were created at the border checkpoints for a quick transition. The head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, also called on residents to evacuate to Russia. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know what was happening in Donbass amid Pushilin's statements. He also noted that he did not know if this was agreed with someone. The day before, the Donbass republics said that the situation on the line of contact had escalated — Kiev was ignoring all the agreements reached earlier. At the same time, Ukraine claims that they intend to solve the problem through political and diplomatic means.Military expert: The West needs Donbas to explode De-escalation is being discussed at a meeting of the contact group in the Belarusian capital, based on the Minsk agreements. The document provides for a constitutional reform, a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities have now concentrated most of the army on the border with the DPR and LPR and regularly fire at the militias, including using prohibited equipment. Tensions in the Donbass are fueled by the United States and other NATO countries, which supply Ukraine with weapons and military instructors. Moscow has repeatedly urged to stop pumping weapons into the region, as this could provoke Kiev into military adventures. : Natalia Makarova
