Earlier in the day, DPR militia reported that Ukrainian armed forces fired three times at the oil depot in the Kirovskyi district of Donetsk with Tochka-U guided missiles.
"Today, at 10:25 [12:25 GMT], Ukrainian armed forces attacked the oil depot with the battlefield missile system Tochka-U. Besides, this fact violates the Geneva Convention’s provision 1.3 on civilian population protection during war. I’d like to remind the criminals from the Ukrainian armed forces that we record all such facts, and you trial is approaching in light of recent events. Also, the letters on this incident will be sent by us to international organizations promptly," Morozova said.
On 21 February, after an extraordinary large meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the head of state addressed the citizens of Russia, saying that he considered it necessary to make a decision to immediately recognise the sovereignty of the LPR and the DPR. Immediately after the appeal, the president signed decrees in the Kremlin recognising the republics.
In the early hours of 24 February, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk requested assistance to defend themselves from attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the operation was targeting the military infrastructure of Ukraine and the civilian population was not in danger. Moscow says it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.