Ukrainian forces shell Lugansk republic 8 times over last 24 hours

Ukrainian forces have shelled the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic eight times over the last 24 hours, LPR people’s militia said on Tuesday.

“Eight ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces have been registered over the last 24 hours. They fired 125 shells at the territory of the republic, excluding fire from small arms,” Lugansk Inform Center quoted LPR people’s militia as saying.

The settlement of Kalinovo was shelled from mortars of 82mm and 120mm caliber, tanks and AGS (automatic grenade launchers) from the direction of Novoalexandrovka, Troitskoye and Novozvanovka. The village of Molodezhnoye was shelled from AGS from the direction of Popasnaya. Kiev forces also shelled the settlement of Kommuna from the direction of Mironovskoye. Two civilians were injured when Ukrainian forces shelled the town of Stakhanov from the direction of Popasnaya.

The participants of the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine agreed on observing ceasefire starting from April 30. However, the Donetsk and Lugansk republics (DPR and LPR) and Kiev forces continue accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime in Donbass.
Ceasefire is envisaged by the Minsk accords signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called “Normandy format” in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. The package of measures also envisages weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.