Main object of attack of occupiers – civilian population – Reznikov about shelling in Donbas

One of the reasons for yesterday's massive provocation in the Donbas was holding of a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was dedicated specifically to the Minsk agreements. Defenсe Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced this in the Verkhovna Rada today during an hour of questions to the government, - correspondent of OstroV reports.

"Anomalous events were recorded yesterday, which are noticeably different from what has been happening since the beginning of the year. And our task is to tame this anomaly so that it does not become a prologue for an escalation", - he said.

According to him, three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded yesterday, as a result of the enemy actions, another one received a combat injury.

"But the Russian command directed a strong blow against educational institutions and housing. The main target of the attack was the civilian population. This is a war crime and a brazen provocation", - the minister noted.

Reznikov believes that one of the reasons for yesterday's massive provocation was holding of a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was dedicated specifically to the Minsk agreements.

"This is a traditional tactic of the Russian side: always before the TCG meetings, before meetings in the Normandy format and before any important international events that relate to the Russian-Ukrainian war, some kind of incidents are arranged to form a background that the Russian side considers beneficial", - the head of the Ministry of Defence said.

As previously reported, 60 violations of the ceasefire by the armed formations of the Russian Federation were recorded over the past day, February 17, 43 of which were with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.