The heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics announced a general mobilization. Media report about it.
In a video message to fellow citizens, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin noted that all efforts should be combined.
«I call on fellow countrymen who are in reserve to come to the military commissariats ... I appeal to all the men of the republic who are able to hold weapons in their hands, to stand up for their families, their children, wives, mothers. Together we will achieve the desired and necessary victory for all of us. We will protect Donbass and all Russian people,» the head of DPR said.
The head of LPR Leonid Pasechnik signed a decree on general mobilization in the self-proclaimed republic, RIA Novosti reports.
The situation on the contact line in Donbass seriously escalated on the night of Thursday, February 17. The heads of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin announced that the authorities had begun evacuating residents of the people’s republics to Russia in connection with the shelling of Donbass by Ukrainian security forces. It is known that more than 6,500 residents have left the DPR. At least 143 temporary accommodation centers have been opened for evacuees from the DPR in Rostov Oblast.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba denied allegations of alleged offensive operations by Ukraine or sabotage in chemical production. «Ukraine does not carry out and does not plan any such actions in Donbas. We are fully committed to a purely diplomatic settlement,» he said.
