Fragment of a Ukrainian Tochka-U rocket near the Government House in DonetskLUHANSK, Mar 14The head of the Luhansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of the dead and injured as a result of the strike by the Tochka-U missile system by the Ukrainian security forces in the center of Donetsk, he called it a «monstrous terrorist attack.» Earlier, the mayor of Donetsk, Aleksey Kulemzin, said that the Dom government, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile was shot down in the city center. The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, called the Tochka-U attack on Donetsk a war crime of Kyiv. According to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, on Monday, Ukrainian troops launched a strike with a Tochka-U tactical missile system with a cluster charge on the civilian infrastructure of Donetsk in the area of Universitetskaya and Artem streets. As a result, at least 23 civilians not participating in the armed conflict, including children, were killed and at least 18 were injured of varying severity. The enemy purposefully attacked the center of Donetsk, knowing full well that this would be followed by the death of exclusively civilians, civilian infrastructure would suffer… On behalf of the people of the Lugansk People's Republic and myself, I express my sincere condolences to all those who lost their loved ones.I wish a speedy recovery to all injured!» — the text of the appeal of the head of the LPR says. Pasechnik stressed that the inhabitants of the LPR know firsthand what «war crimes of the Kiev regime» are and expressed confidence that the perpetrators will be punished. 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 the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the President of Russia emphasized.
