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Phosphorus munitions used by Ukrainian troops in Donbass first time in 2019

DONETSK, June 21. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops have used phosphorus munitions to shell the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the DPR’s defense ministry, said on Friday.

"After massive shelling of the settlement of Dolomitnoye, which came under mortar fire four times during this week, a fragment of a 120mm mine stuffed with phosphorus was found," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.

According to Basurin, it was the first episode of the use of prohibited phosphorus munitions by the Ukrainian army in 2019.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Donbass, the parties have agreed more than 20 ceasefires. The longest one of them was reported in 2016 when the ceasefire stayed in place for six weeks in a row. However, all the efforts to establish lasting ceasefire have been failing so far.

Yet another ceasefire was declared starting from March 8, 2018 but was violated by the Ukrainian side virtually five minutes after it had taken effect.

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