LPR reports over 20 strikes by Ukrainian army in past week
LUHANSK. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian military shelled the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) 24 times in the past week, LPR people's militia chief department Oleg Anashchenko said.
"The Ukrainian army committed 24 ceasefire violations over the period from January 14 to January 20. The strikes involved 122mm artillery weapons and 120mm and 82mm mortars that are banned by the Minsk agreements. BMP-1[infantry fighting vehicle] weapons, ZU-23-2 [anti-aircraft gun], SPG, RPG, AGS weapons and small arms," he told reporters on Friday.
A total of 540 projectiles and mines were fired against LPR territory, he said.
The Ukrainian side shelled LPR people's militia positions near the populated localities of Kalynivka, Lohvynove, Nizhne Lozove, Lozove, Kalynove, Smele, Sokolniki, Dolhe, as well as near the Prince Igor Monument in the vicinity of Stanytsia Luhanska, Anashchenko said.
For its part, the Kyiv-appointed Luhansk region state administration recorded four truce violations along the entire contact line in the past day. The number of shelling incidents has been declining, it said.
The Luhansk region state administration said on its Facebook account on Friday that 120mm mortars, anti-aircraft guns and automatic grenade launchers had been used against Ukrainian military positions near Krymske in the Novoaidar district.
Automatic grenade launchers were also fired on the village of Novozvanivka in the Popasna district.
Militia units used under-barrel grenade launchers and small arms against the Ukrainian army's fortifications near Stanytsia Luhanska after midnight.