Kiev forces shell Donetsk republic more than 60 times in past 24 hours — DPR

The militias of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have registered 61 ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian military over the past 24 hours, the DPR Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

“The intensity of the artillery bombardments by the Ukrainian side has grown over the past 24 hours totaling 61 violations of the ceasefire regime,” the Donetsk News Agency quotes the ministry as saying.

According to the Defense Ministry, Kiev-controlled units fired 34 152-mm and 122-mm artillery shells, 102 tank shells and 303 82-mm and 120-mm mines on the territory of the Donetsk People Republic. In addition to that, they used grenade launchers and small arms.

The most intense artillery and mortar fire fell on the city of Gorlovka. Earlier on Thursday, the City Hall said two civilians had been killed in the shelling, and six other people, including two children, had been wounded.

Donetsk (Petrovsky and Kirov district, the village of Alexandrovka and the airport area) and a number of populated localities, including Kalinovka, Staromikhailovka, Belaya Kamenka and Spartak, came under fire as well.

The Donbas region ceasefire formally came into force on February 15. Requirements to halt hostilities were envisaged in a package of measures for implementing peace accords signed in Minsk, Belarus, three days before. Authorities of the two territories have repeatedly said observance of the truce depended entirely on the Ukrainian side.