Russian MoD: Ukrainian Nationalists Planning Provocations in Kharkov Involving Foreign Journalists

Russia repeatedly condemned the actions of the Ukrainian nationalist battalions, accusing them of using civilians as human shields and placing armaments, including MRLs Grad, in residential quarters of Ukrainian cities.

Russia's Defence Ministry has issued a warning about Ukrainian nationalists' planned provocations in Kharkov. According to its intelligence, the nationalists have deployed several rocket launchers in the residential quarters of the city and forbidden the civilians to leave their homes in the hopes of drawing Russian fire towards them. The ministry revealed that the MRLs are installed in the Kiev district of Kharkov.

The Defence Ministry said that the provocation is designed to make Russian forces shoot residential buildings in an attempt to destroy the MRLs, film it and release the footage to foreign journalists for distribution.

Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russia's Ministry of Defence, further stated that retreating nationalist battalions are damaging critical civilian infrastructure objects in Donbass.

"The greatest damage is being done to the water supply and energy systems. The goal of such actions is to create a humanitarian catastrophe in the Donbass," he said.

Konashenkov also told how the Russian special operation in Ukraine was progressing, saying that Russian forces, in cooperation with the Donetsk Lugansk People's Republic (DPR), have managed to seize control of a number of towns and villages, including Pyatikhatki, Shevchenkovo, Polohy, Gusarka, Novodanilovka and Shcherbaki.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the special operation on 24 February with the goal of demilitarising and de-Nazifying Ukraine. He stressed that Moscow was left with no other option after Kiev threatened to revive its nuclear status, abandoned in 1994, and after Ukrainian authorities failed to implement the Minsk agreements.