Some 40,000 homes and infrastructure facilities in the Lugansk People’s Republic have been damaged by Kiev artillery strikes since 2014, LPR ombudsperson Viktoria Serdyukova said in an interview with the RT news channel.   “Artillery attacks by Ukraine inflict irreparable damage on housing stock, civil infrastructure and social facilities,” Serdyukova said. “Some 25,000 homes and civil infrastructure facilities were damaged or destroyed in the period from 2014 to the beginning of the special military operation, and about 15,000 have been damaged or destroyed since 2022.”   The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  The peace talks that began soon thereafter failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.   Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression on February 24, 2022. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance.   The Lugansk People’s Republic acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum. *i*ie