The Russian Defense Ministry said that the military received an offensive order after Kyiv refused to negotiate
Photo: Maxim Levin / Reuters
On Saturday, February 26, the Russian military received an order to develop an offensive in all directions in accordance with the plan for a special operation in the Donbass. This was reported to Lente.ru by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The department said that the day before, on February 25, after Kyiv's statements about its readiness for negotiations with Moscow, active hostilities in the main directions of the operation were suspended. However, the offensive of the Russian military continued after the Ukrainian side refused dialogue.
“Groups of troops of the DPR and LPR, with the fire support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, are developing the success of the offensive against the positions of the armed forces of Ukraine. Units of the armed forces of the Luhansk People's Republic continue their offensive in the direction of the village of Rubizhne with fighting,” the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, on February 26, the Russian Ministry of Defense appealed to the citizens of Ukraine with an appeal to demand that the leadership of their country immediately remove heavy weapons from their homes and neighborhoods. “I emphasize once again that the Russian armed forces do not inflict any strikes on residential areas of Ukrainian cities,” the department noted.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass. According to him, it was a response to requests for military assistance that came from the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DNR and LNR).
