A residential building in the Kievsky district of Donetsk, damaged by shellingDONETSK, March 9 Ukrainian troops The territory of the Donetsk People's Republic was shelled 944 times in 21 days of escalation, of which 792 were from heavy weapons, the representative office of the republic in the JCCC said on Wednesday. Of these, 792 were using heavy weapons,» the representative office's Telegram channel said in a statement. In total, Ukrainian troops fired 11,897 ammunition of various calibers, including 13 missiles of the Tochka-U tactical missile system. According to the representative office, the number of dead residents of the DPR has not changed over three days — 26 people, the number of wounded has grown to 148, including nine children. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But there is no question of the occupation of Ukraine, the Russian President emphasized.
