Artillery attacks by Kiev forces have damaged 3,602 homes and 399 civil infrastructure facilities in the Lugansk People’s Republic since the beginning of the special military operation (SVO) on February 24, said the LPR Office at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of issues related to Ukraine’s war crimes (JCCC).   “(Since the start of the SVO), Ukrainian forces have damaged or destroyed 3,602 houses in 84 settlements; 399 civil infrastructure facilities have been damaged including 91 education institutions and 17 medical centers,” the JCCC said.   On December 16, the LPR Office at the JCCC reported that Ukrainian artillery attacks had damaged 3,539 homes and 390 civil infrastructure facilities in the Republic since the start of the SVO.   On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance. The LPR militia and Russian armed forces fully liberated the LPR territory from Ukrainian armed formations on July 3.   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.   The Lugansk People’s Republic became a part of Russia on September 30, 2022 after the unification referendum.*i*v