According to the DPR Representative Office at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime, Kiev troops fired 294 artillery and mortar shells at 13 localities of that Donbass region, in which 32 houses and eight civil service buildings were damaged.

It also warned that the enemy forces used 155-millimeter weapons, the standard caliber of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, such as M777 howitzers and French Caesar self-propelled artillery.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after authorities from the self-proclaimed DPR and Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) requested help to repel the increase in aggression and the heavy air strikes from Kiev.

On February 21, Moscow recognized the independence and sovereignty of both territories and signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the heads of the DPR and LPR, including establishing diplomatic relations and providing military aid.

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