On the night of February 22, air alert was issued in three regions of Ukraine. This is evidenced by the data of the official source to warn citizens.
In the Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkov regions, sirens sounded.
An alarm was also sounded in the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye region.
On the evening of February 20, Chernihiv, Cherkassy, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Dnipro regions and the Kiev-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, announced weather alarm.
On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided to organize a military special operation to protect Donbass, in response to a request for assistance from the heads of the LPR and DPR.
The decision to run the operation became the justification for new sanctions against Russia by the United States and its allies.