View of a neighboring house through a broken window of a house in Makiivka. File photoDONETSK, Apr 7Ukrainian troops shelled two settlements in the DPR in two hours, including firing 12 shells with a caliber of 152 millimeters and 20 rockets from Gradov, the representative office of the republic at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC) reports. 13.25 — N. Novgorodske — N. Zheleznaya Balka: 10 grenades were fired from the AGS, small arms were also used; 15.26 — N. Novoselovka — N. P. Yasinovataya: 12 152mm rounds fired, 20 BM21 Grad rockets fired,» the mission's Telegram channel said in a statement. />Ukrainian troops shelled the Petrovsky district of DonetskRussia 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, they completed the main tasks of the first stage — they significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. In the DPR, Ukrainian troops were driven out of Volnovakha, a strategically important regional center south of Donetsk; there are battles for Mariupol, the largest city on the coast of the Sea of Azov. In the LPR, according to a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 25, 93% of the territory of the former Lugansk region was taken under control. Only the cities of Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, as well as a number of other settlements of this agglomeration, remain under the authority of Kyiv.
