Ukraine Army using heavy artillery, mortars & grenade launchers; starts invasion: DPR head

Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin on Monday accused the Ukrainian Army of using heavy artillery, mortars, grenade launchers, and tanks that have injured the civilians in the volatile Donbas region. “People are dying,” from the Ukraine military’s use of heavy artillery that has resulted in casualties in the disputed region, read the statement by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics on Telegram. Denis Pushilin, the Head of State of the Donetsk People's Republic further published on his Telegram account that the Ukrainian forces have asked the male citizens of Donetsk "to come to the military commissariats.” 

As the mortar shelling intensified these areas, self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics backed by Russia accused Ukrainian forces of destroying the civilian infrastructure.  

“Only in recent days, the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has fired more than 1,700 mortars and shells into residential areas. Heavy artillery, mortars, grenade launchers, and tanks are hitting us. Ukrainian troops continue to shell the settlements of Zaitsevo, Gorlovka, Donetsk, Yasinovataya, Kominternovo, and Dokuchaevsk, informed Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin. 

Ukraine Army started invasion: Russian backed DPR head 

A projectile fired from the Ukrainian side targeted the border office of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday, the FSB said in a separate statement. It, however, did not lead to any casualties. 

"On 21 February at 09:50 a.m [06:50 GMT], an unidentified projectile fired from the territory of Ukraine fully destroyed the office of border patrols of the Russian FSB border department in the Rostov region, located at a distance of about 150 meters [490 feet] from the Russian-Ukrainian border,” the FSB said in a statement shared on Telegram. 

A mortar attack allegedly by the Ukrainian security forces, also targeted an electrical power station on the Donbas side and the Central City Hospital in Donetsk. The property has incurred severe damages according to the People's Militia of the self-proclaimed DPR’s statement. "The situation on the line of contact remains critical. Ukrainian militants continue to strike at the civilian infrastructure of the republic," said the DPR militia on telegram.

"As a result of a mortar attack from the positions of the 54th mechanized brigade, an electrical power station and the Central City Hospital No. 14, Donetsk, at the address Petrovsky Street 197, were damaged," the ministry further informed on its Telegram channel. It accused Ukrainian forces have started implementing their Donbas invasion plan.