Conflict sides in Donbas accuse each other of ceasefire violations again
KYIV/DONETSK. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Donbas militias and the Ukrainian side have accused each other of ceasefire violations once again.
Thus, the press center for the headquarters of the military operation in eastern Ukraine said on Facebook on Monday that despite the reached ceasefire agreements, the militiamen "are continuing to shell our positions along the entire separation line from mortars, heavy-caliber machine guns, small arms and weapons prescribed by the Minsk Agreements throughout the day."
According to Kyiv, the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donetsk and Mariupol sectors were shelled from 122mm artillery weapons, tanks, 120mm and 82mm mortars.
The headquarters said that if shellings of the Ukrainian positions continue after 4:30 p.m., the Ukrainian troops "will be forced to return fire adequately" for the purpose of avoiding losses among servicemen.
According to the press center, the Joint Center on Control and Coordination of issues related to the ceasefire regime and the stabilization of the situation has been already warned about this decision.
The Donetsk News Agency, in turn, said with a reference to a source in the defense agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) that the Ukrainian forces shelled three villages in the Novoazovsk district in the south of the DPR. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire at the village of Nova Tavria at 3:00 p.m. The villages of Sakhanka and Leninske came under fire at the same time," the agency said.
The source said that shellings were conducted from 120mm mortars and tanks.
Earlier on Monday, a senior official of the DPR Defense Ministry Eduard Basurin said that the Ukrainian forces shelled the territory of the DPR 509 times in the past 24 hours.