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Media say Kiev forces shelled northern outskirts of Donetsk last night

Ukrainian forces reportedly used mortars of 82mm and 120mm caliber, grenade launchers and small arms

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Kiev forces have shelled the territory along the contact line to the north of Donetsk for four hours last night, a source in law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Thursday.

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OSCE official calls situation in Donbas stable but unpredictable

"Ukrainian forces opened fire at the Spartak settlement around 11pm," the source told Donetsk News Agency. "Some time later they started shelling the Donetsk airport and the Volvo Center. Shellings stopped around 2am on December 17," the source noted.

Ukrainian forces used mortars of 82mm and 120mm caliber, grenade launchers and small arms. The opened fire from the Peski settlement and the Butovskaya mine to the north of Spartak.

On Wedensday Ukrainian forces shelled the Zaytsevo settlement to the north of Gorlovka and mine No. 6.

At the meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk on August 26, the participants confirmed their plans to ensure ceasefire in Donbas from September 1. Over the last weeks DPR defense ministry registered the growing number of shellings near Gorlovka and in Donetsk’s northern and western outskirts. Deputy Chief Monitor of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Hug said that Donetsk’s outskirts and Gorlovka remain the "hot spots" on the contact line in Donbas.

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