Pushilin: Armed Forces of Ukraine use American weapons to shell Donetsk

A woman near her house, which was damaged by the shelling of the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. File photoMOSCOW, June 6The Ukrainian side is using received American weapons to shell civilians in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People's Republic, said on Monday. «American weapons, in particular, (howitzers — ed.) M777 is already being used (by the Ukrainian side — ed.),» he said on the air of the Rossiya 24 TV channel. «It was involved in the shelling of the city of Donetsk,» Pushilin specified. At the same time, he stressed that the Ukrainian side is shelling the sleeping areas of the city, where by default there can be no military facilities. 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 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.