
An employee of the People's Militia of the DPR near a shell crater near a Gorlovka school. Archival photoDONETSK, May 1.Ukrainian troops fired on Gorlovka and Ozeryanovka, 16 shells of 122 mm caliber were fired in 20 minutes, according to the DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire (JCCC).»Fixed shelling from the side of the VFU in the following directions: 9.30 — settlement Novgorodskoye — settlement Gorlovka (village of the Gagarin mine): 8 shells of 122 mm caliber were fired; 8 shells of 122 mm caliber,» the message reads. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv 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.

