Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), Igor Strelkov, says that Kiev is trying to drag Russia into the war.
"The Ukrainian army shelled the Russian border town of Donetsk, in the Rostov region, early this morning from its side of the border, in order to draw Russia into an armed conflict," warned Strelkov for the Rasha Life News television.
One of the shells hit a private house, killing one and seriously injuring two people, reports Itar-tass.
After the Ukrainian army used chemical weapons in the vicinity of Semyonovka, Strelkov points out that he no longer has any doubts about the intentions of the authorities in Kiev "which have neither honor nor conscience".
The punitive operation by Kiev forces against the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which they want to bring back under their control, has so far claimed hundreds of lives, injured almost a thousand and a half people, destroyed numerous buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to flee Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly called on the Ukrainian authorities to suspend the operation and enter into a dialogue with the population in the southeast of the country.
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