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Kiev accused of using Grad rocket launchers in night shelling of Donetsk

Examination of a private house in Staromikhailovka destroyed in shelling by Ukrainian troops overnight to November 3 revealed fragments of a Grad multiple rocket launcher system, says a local official
Ukrainian surface-to-surface missile complex Grad EPA/KONSTANTIN GRISHIN
Ukrainian surface-to-surface missile complex Grad
© EPA/KONSTANTIN GRISHIN

MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops shelled the Donetsk suburb of Staromikhailovka from Grad multiple rocket launcher systems, the Donetsk News Agency said on Tuesday, citing a local administration official.

"Examination of a private house in Staromikhailovka destroyed in shelling by Ukrainian troops overnight to November 3 revealed fragments of a Grad multiple rocket launcher system," he said.

A shell fired by Ukrainian troops overnight to Tuesday hit and destroyed the roof of a private living house in Staromikhailovka. The defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said Ukrainian troops had also shelled Donetsk’s northern suburbs.

The Contact Group signed the key package of measures for peaceful settlement in Donbas, known as Minsk-2, on February 12. Under the document, the sides are to withdraw heavy weapons from the contact line, namely artillery systems of 100 mm caliber or more to the distance of at least 50 km, multiple rocket launcher systems (MLRS) to the distance of 70 km and most powerful Tornado-S, Uragan and Smerch MLRS, as well as tactical missile systems Tochka/Tochka U to the distance of 140 km.

On September 29, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine initialled a document envisaging withdrawal of weapons under 100mm calibre to a distance of 15 kilometres for the line of engagement. On the following day, the document was signed by the leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky. Weapons are to be pulled out in two stages. First tanks are to be pulled back, then artillery and then mortars. The first stage of 15 days is to be followed by a 24-day second stage. The withdrawal started in Sector North on the LPR territory to be continued in Sector South in the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic). Thus, the entire weapons withdrawal process will take 41 days and is to be over by November 10. The process will be monitored by the Joint Centre for Coordinate and Control (JCCC).