Illegal armed formations attack Novoluhanske with MRLs, causing civilian casualties; evacuation under way

Illegal armed formations mounted an attack on the village of Novoluhanske in Donetsk region's Bakhmut district at about 17:00 local time on Monday, December 18, using multiple rocket launchers; civilian casualties have been reported, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters has said.

"At about 17:00 on December 18, the Russian occupation forces deployed in the town of Horlivka launched a barbaric, cynical attack from multiple rocket launcher systems on the village of Novoluhanske, which is in the ATO's Luhansk sector. Unfortunately, there are casualties among civilians and the destruction of residential buildings in Novoluhanske. Information about the number of victims and the degree of the destruction is being verified," the ATO HQ wrote on Facebook on Monday evening.

Urgent measures are being taken to evacuate local residents and put out fires that arose as a result of the enemy attack.

Head of Donetsk Regional Military and Civil Administration Pavlo Zhebrivsky said in turn that "at least 15 Grad rockets hit the residential sector of Novoluhanske" at about 17:00. Some of them landed on houses and a kindergarten.

"As head of Bakhmut District Administration Volodymyr Bokhonov told me, private houses on Michurin Street are on fire, windows of the kindergarten have been broken, a playground has been damaged. This is preliminary information only," Zhebrivsky wrote on his Facebook page.

He said he had not yet received a report on casualties.

Rescuers of the State Emergency Situations Service, the police, representatives of the Military and Civil Administration have left for the scene.