WATCH: Map Discovered Revealing Ukrainian Radicals' Plans to Seize Novoazovsk

Ukrainian forces have been waging an eight-year-long campaign in Donbass which has claimed over 13,000 lives. Kiev's aims to conquer Donetsk and Lugansk were countered by the Russian special military operation launched in February.

Ukrainian radicals intended to carry out an offensive to seize multiple settlements in Donbass and reach the Russian border to assault the city of Novoazovsk, a source with the Lugansk Peoples’ Republic has said.

A map found by militiamen at an abandoned Azov* battalion base in Mariupol suggests that the offensive was scheduled for 8 March. The plan shows that different units of the neo-Nazi regiment were assigned to advance into DPR territory, capturing settlements on their way to Novoazovsk and encircling the city.

Back in February, Ukrainian forces intensified their attacks against Donbass, prompting mass civilian evacuations to Russia. In a bid to stop the attacks, the DPR and LPR asked Moscow for assistance and Russia launched a special military operation to save the people of Donbass from genocide and ensure the denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine.