MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have violated the ceasefire regime four times over the past 24 hours, the People’s Militia of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) told LuhanskInformCenter on Thursday.
"The ceasefire regime is not observed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 4 ceasefire violations have been registered over the past 24 hours," the report says.
The town of Schastye was subjected to the shelling three times, the villages of Oboznoye and Pervomaisk came under fire as well. The Ukrainian army used automatic grenade launchers, mortars and air defense artillery. There are no casualties among self-defense fighters, the People’s Militia said.
Members of the Contact Group on Ukraine signed in Minsk on February 12 the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements coordinated with the leaders of the "Normandy Four" member-countries (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine). The document envisages in particular the creation of a security zone with a width at least 50 kilometers. The parties pledged to withdraw the artillery systems with caliber over 100 mm by equal distances.
On July 19, the LPR People’s Militia completed the unilateral withdrawal of all weapons with caliber under 100 mm from the line of contact to a distance of no less than 3 kilometers, with the exception of the town of Schastye. The Luhansk republic also expressed willingness to withdraw weapons from the Schastye area as well, if the Ukrainian side takes similar steps.