Fighters of the People's Militia of the DPR in a trench on the outskirts of Donetsk. File photoDONETSK, April 1Ukrainian troops shelled the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, firing ten shells with a caliber of 122 mm, the representative office of the Donetsk People's Republic in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC) said. According to the representative office in his Telegram channel, the shelling was carried out at 15.55 from the village of Novomikhailovka. 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 Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
