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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Kiev violates "regime of silence" 27 times over past day — DPR Defense Ministry

The ministry said small arms of various calibers, grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers and antitank guided missiles were used by Kiev

© Mikhail Sokolov/TASS

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Kiev has opened fire on the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) 27 times over the past 24 hours, the DPR Defense Ministry reported Saturday.

"The Donetsk Airport has been attacked by fire 10 times, the village of Spartak - 13 times, Shirokino two times and Novomaryevka once. In Gorlovka, a militiaman was wounded as a result of shooting. The enemy has attacked 16 times from mortars. They have also fired from tanks. Fire was delivered point-blank," the Donetsk news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

The ministry said small arms of various calibers, grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers and antitank guided missiles were used by Kiev.

"The positions of the militia and residential neighborhoods were their targets. There is no information on destruction, deaths or injuries among civilians," it said.

Regular talks of the participants of the Trilateral Contact Group on east Ukrainian settlement comprising representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were held in the Belarusian capital Minsk on February 10-12. Talks of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) leaders on the Ukrainian issue also ended February 12 in Minsk.

A 13-point Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements was adopted at the February talks.

The package in particular included an agreement on cessation of fire from February 15, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement of the situation in Ukraine, including enforcement of a special self-rule status for certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

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Eastern Ukraine

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