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Ukrainian forces shell LPR territory — people’s militia

On Wednesday the Contact Group on settling the situation in south-east Ukraine agreed that it is necessary to observe the ceasefire regime in Donbas

© AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

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Government forces reportedly shell village in Ukraine's east at night

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have shelled the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) on Wednesday, LPR people’s militia center told Lugansk Inform Center on Thursday.

"At 12:30pm [on January 13] a shelling was registered from the settlement of Luganskoye at our positions near the Kalinovka village from automatic grenade launchers and small arms," LPR people’s militia center said.

On Wednesday the Contact Group on settling the situation in south-east Ukraine agreed that it is necessary to observe the ceasefire regime in Donbas. "We fully support the proposal (of Russian envoy to the Contact Group) to make a new attempt to ensure full ceasefire observance on the occasion of the Old New Year," the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) envoy Martin Sajdik said. This is the sixth attempt since autumn 2014 to fully observe the ceasefire in Donbass.

Ceasefire is envisaged by the Minsk accords signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.

The Minsk accords also envisage weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.

The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.

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Ukraine crisis Eastern Ukraine

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