Ukrainian military 35 times violate ceasefire in Donetsk Republic — agency

The Ukrainian military used mortars of 120 and 82mm calibers, weapons of infantry fighting vehicles, armored vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms.

DONETSK, April 2. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military over the past 24 hours 35 times opened fire on territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR ), the operative command told the Donetsk news agency on Sunday.

"Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces 35 times violated the ceasefire," the source told the agency.

The Ukrainian military used mortars of 120 and 82mm calibers, weapons of infantry fighting vehicles, armored vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms

It was earlier reported on Sunday that units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces twice opened fire on the militia’s positions in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).

"From the Luganskoye settlement from weapons of an infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) and from an anti-aircraft system they shelled the Kalinovka settlement, and they fired on Smeloye from the Krymskoye settlement from and IFV," Luganskinformcenter quoted the republic’s defense authority.

Members of the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine have said more than ten times since the autumn of 2014 that an agreement had been reached on the cessation of hostilities in the region. However, the ceasefire was disrupted on numerous occasions, with the parties to the conflict accusing each other of violating the truce.

At a meeting on March 29, the parties once again agreed on a ceasefire in the Donbass region as of April 1. However, LPR says the Ukrainian units observed the ceasefire for only about an hour.

At the same time, on April 1, press-officer of the Lugansk unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Dmitry Chalyi, said since midnight the LPR’s forces were observing fully the ceasefire agreement.

Source: ITAR-TASS 02-04-2017