(1) it did so in response to relevant calls made by the Russian State Duma (February 12, 2022), as well as the DPR and LPR leaders made earlier;

 

(2) Kiev's continuing refusal to implement all 13 provisions of the Minsk agreements approved by the UN Security Council (Resolution 2202) during nearly eight years (from 2015 till 2022) of tough talks conducted with Russia, Germany and France with the aim to persuade two Ukrainian presidents, including the current one, Volodimir Zelensky, to do so, but in vain;

 

(3) in January-February 2022 the Ukrainian government had amassed considerable forces along the line of disengagement with the two Donbass republics: according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev has concentrated near the line of disengagement 60.000 regular troops plus illegal armed formations, 354 tanks, more than 2.000 armored combat vehicles and 600 multiple rocket launching systems (named Grad, Smerch and Uragan), plus several hundred heavy artillery pieces and heavy mortars with more than 100 mm caliber (the latter are prohibited by the Minsk agreements; item 2);

 

(4) on February 17, 2022 the Ukrainian Armed Forces without any warning and unilaterally started massive shelling of Donbass over the entire 400 km-long line of disengagement aiming its main social and economic infrastructure; February, 19-20 Donbass has been shelled 107 times; in 70 cases the Ukrainian Armed Forces used 122-mm artillery guns and 120-mm mortars.

 

(5) the Ukrainian Armed Forces have ramped up shelling of Donbass in a clear violation of the Minsk accords; the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reported the intensification of shelling of Donbass: in February 14 there were nearly 591 ceasefire violations, and on February 18-20 there were 3.231 ceasefire violations;

 

(6) February 19-21 the Ukrainian Armed Forces three times shelled Rostov Region on the undisputable Russian territory and moved two armored combat vehicles into that area (they have been destroyed, 5 Ukrainian soldiers killed);

 

(7) at the Munich Security Conference Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky publicly warned the audience that Ukraine might regain nuclear weapons it has possessed till 1994 that subsequently has been relocated to Russia as a successor state of the former Soviet Union (Note: Moscow believes that such Ukrainian statement creates additional threat to Russia and European states; today Ukraine has delivery systems capable to carry tactical nuclear weapons, like shorter range ballistic missiles named “Tochka-U” used during second Ukrainian aggression versus populated areas in Donbass in 2015; that time they have been fitted with conventional warheads);

 

(8) the exodus of refugees from Donbass to Russia started from February 18 when the leadership of the DPR and LPR announced the evacuation of elderly people, women, and children to Russia (Note: by February 21, nearly 68,000 residents of the two republics have crossed the border and moved into Russia (Note: by February 23 this figure was around 98.000 people, including 60.000 Ukrainians and 48.000 Russians. The total figure included 31.000 children.