Russian occupation forces shell Luhansk using heavy armament

Russian occupation forces launched an artillery strike on the city of Luhansk.

The Militarnyi informs about it.

According to the press center of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation, yesterday, on February 20, at around 9 pm, Russian occupation forces opened heavy armament fire from the Russian-controlled area near the settlement of Lobacheve targeting Luhansk.

The Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation Headquarters claim that this was another provocation with the aim of falsely accusing Ukrainian service members.

“In the absence of any aggressive action from the Ukrainian defenders, the occupiers themselves are blowing up infrastructure in the occupied territories and firing chaotically on towns,” the statement said.

“It is obvious that the adversary continues to use the Russian propaganda machine to wage information warfare, to falsely accuse the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to further escalate the situation. By doing so, the occupation forces once again demonstrated their cowardness and complete disregard for the lives and health of the local civilian population,” the JFO Headquarters reported.

The JFO Command officially states that the Joint Forces continue to strictly abide by the Minsk Agreements and the International Humanitarian Law.

“Therefore, the claims about the civilian settlement shelling carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are completely false and provocative, as the only party responsible for those incidents is the aggressor-state,” the statement said.

On February 19, the occupiers had continued firing mortars along the Luhansk-Shchastya humanitarian corridor.

The infrastructure of the road corridor, which should be used to move civilians, was damaged.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine stated that as a result of the shelling, the administrative building of the 32nd State Fire and Rescue Department was damaged, the facade and drainage of the building were impaired by shrapnel.

As reported, on February 17, Russian-occupation forces striked a number of settlements of Ukraine. The artillery attack caused damaged buildings, communal infrastructure and wounded civilians.