MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Some 11,000 residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) living on the disengagement line between militiamen and Ukrainian troops daily risk their lives due to massive shelling by the Ukrainian army, the head of the administration of the Petrovsky District of the city of Donetsk, Maxim Zhukovsky said Monday.
"On the average, 11,500 people reside on the disengagement line," the Donetsk News Agency quoted Zhukovsky as saying. "Over the past three days, 60 people wishing to resettle from shelled districts to a safer place have turned to us," the official said.
The head of the Kuibyshevskaya district administration of Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, said the district authorities are preparing to resettle about 2000 people due to incessant shelling on the part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU).
"Over the past five days, the situation in our district has considerably deteriorated. It is similar to January-February, when the Ukrainian army delivered massive fire at us. We focused all forces on resettling to safe districts. Some 2,000 people are in line," he said.
The DPR Defense Ministry said Monday the situation in Donbass acquired "a crisis nature." As a result of a night shelling of the republic’s territory from the positions of the Ukrainian army, five civilians were killed and 14 wounded.
Massive shelling of residential neighborhoods, including with the use of aviation, has killed thousands and led to a humanitarian disaster in east Ukraine since Kiev in April 2014 announced the start of an "antiterrorism operation" there, which involved the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry’s National Guard and volunteer battalions made up of Euromaidan activists, many of whom hold far-right and neo-Nazi views.
DPR Defense Ministry urges Europe, Russia to prevent new fighting in Donbass
The Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has decided to once again call on the heads of European states and Russia to render influence on Kiev, ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin said Monday.
"The punishers are trying to do everything possible to keep people in fear and thus disrupt the process of normalization of peaceful life in the republic. Social facilities and facilities of civil infrastructure are getting under fire increasingly frequently," the Donetsk News Agency quoted Basurin as saying.
"Thus, 20 children escaped death as a result of today’s night shelling of Gorlovka by sheer luck," he said.
Basurin said Kiev concentrated military hardware near the disengagement line, which is in violation of the Minsk Agreements.
"I want to once again call on the heads of European states and Russia to render decisive influence on President of Ukraine Pyotr Poroshenko to prevent him from unfolding a new round of hostilities in Donbass," the DPR Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Massive shelling of residential neighborhoods, including with the use of aviation, has killed thousands and led to a humanitarian disaster in east Ukraine since Kiev in April 2014 announced the start of an "antiterrorism operation" there, which involved the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry’s National Guard and volunteer battalions made up of Euromaidan activists, many of whom hold far-right and neo-Nazi views.
Ukraine has regularly violated the ceasefire regime imposed as part of the Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements.
The situation in eastern Ukraine has deteriorated in recent weeks, with the number of reports on shelling and civilian deaths increasing. The DPR and the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) have repeatedly said that the observance of the ceasefire that took effect February 15 depends solely on the Ukrainian side.
Ukraine has regularly violated the ceasefire regime imposed as part of the Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements.
The situation in eastern Ukraine has deteriorated in recent weeks, with the number of reports on shelling and civilian deaths increasing. The DPR and the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) have repeatedly said that the observance of the ceasefire that took effect February 15 depends solely on the Ukrainian side.