Militias accuse Ukrainian troops of 11 truce breaches
DONETSK. March 3 (Interfax) - The defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has reported further, albeit fewer, truce violations by Ukraine.
"In the early hours of Tuesday and throughout the day today the situation in the DPR continued to normalize. However, we did record eleven violations of the truce in these populated areas: Vodyanoye, Opytnoye, Peski, Horlivka and Spartak. Five militiamen have been hurt as a result," DPR defense spokesman Eduard Basurin told reporters.
He accused Kyiv of trying to mislead OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) observers about the removal of heavy weapons.
"Radio-intercepted data confirm that the Ukrainian military are not going to remove weapons and are misleading the OSCE. According to the same intercepted data, the Ukrainian forces have been ordered not to allow OSCE (observers) access their positions to register the situation," Basurin said.
OSCE observers told militias that Ukraine is not providing data about removal and location of its heavy weapons, he said.
The DPR defense ministry said shelling by Ukrainian troops has intensified around Horlivka and Donetsk Airport.
"Horlivka and the airport are being shelled from 120 millimeter howitzers, which was not the case earlier," Basurin said.
Militiamen have seized several trophies, he said.
"Ukrainian hardware was delivered from Novohryhorievsk after being dumped by (the Ukrainians) in the battlefield: two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other hardware," he said.