MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Kiev continues to purposefully amass heavy weapons at the line of contact, which will lead to the resumption of hostilities in southeastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry noted that the Russian side at the Joint Center for Coordination and Control had informed the employees of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) "about the build-up of pieces with caliber over 100 mm at the line of demarcation."
"The presence of one Grad rocket launcher and two armored personnel carriers has been established in Dokuchaevsk," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The movement of a convoy of six Grad launchers, 18 trucks carrying ammunition and personnel and 18 armored personnel carriers, including 6 armored personnel carriers equipped with anti-tank guided missiles from Selidovo to Lebedinsky has been registered. In Chasov Yar, the deployment of two Tochka-U tactical missile systems has been established."
In addition to that, five Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers have been deployed to Orlovskoye, and two tanks discovered in Granitnoye, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"This information has been confirmed by the data obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission," the ministry added. "It is noted that on August 15, flying over Aslanovo, the mission’s UAV was subjected to radio interference from the Ukrainian military."
At the same time, the Russian side at the Joint Center for Coordination and Control informed representatives of the Special Monitoring Mission that, "according to the information of the DPR intelligence service, the Ukrainian army was deploying main attack forces with heavy weaponry to the contact line and suggested verifying this information."
"The Ukrainian authorities thus continue to purposefully build up heavy weaponry at the contact line in violation of the agreements reached in Minsk, which will lead to the resumption of hostilities in southeastern Ukraine," the ministry noted.
Ukrainian army dramatically increases artillery bombardments of Ukraine's self-proclaimed republics
The Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry also told TASS the Ukrainian military has substantially increased the number of artillery bombardments of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics (DPR, LPR) over the past week with the use of all types of weapons despite the ceasefire.
"As a result of these artillery bombardments, civilians continue to die and sustain injuries of varying severity, residential houses and social infrastructure facilities are destroyed."
The heaviest fire fell on districts of Donetsk, the Donetsk airport and the towns of Gorlovka and Debaltsevo shelled overnight on August 16 from the 122-mm and 1520mm artillery systems from the settlement Peski area controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The artillery bombardments have left a man and two women dead, whose identifies are being established.
"The relevant information, including photos and video footage on these violations have been handed over by representatives of the Russian Armed Forces at the Joint Center for Coordination and Control to the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They also provided information on Russia’s activities to render assistance in the implementation of humanitarian projects in southeastern Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry noted that when checking the storage area for withdrawn weaponry of the Ukrainian Armed Forces OSCE monitors registered the absence of nine Msta-B 152-mm towed howitzers, 24 Grad multiple rocket launchers, four Rapira 100-mm anti-tank guns, four Gvozdika 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, four Giatsint 152-mm field guns, eight Shturm-S anti-tank missile systems and five Akatsiya self-propelled howitzers.