MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops have shelled 14 times the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past 24 hours, a source with the DPR defence ministry told the Donetsk news agency on Saturday.
"There have been no drastic changes along the line of contact over the past 24 hours," the source said. "In spite of all agreements, the enemy has opened fire 14 times on the republic’s territory."
The villages of Lozovoye (in the Yasinovatoye district), Kominternovo (in the south of Donbass), Ozeryanka (on the outskirts of the town of Gorlovka), Zhabichevo and Spartak (in the north of Donetsk) and the area surrounding former Donetsk airport came under shelling, the DPR defence ministry said.
A total of 35 mortars 120mm and 82 mm calibre, an anti-tank missile hit the DPR territory. Besides, the Ukrainian military fired 15 shots from a mechanised infantry combat vehicle and 60 shots from grenade launchers.
On January 13, the Contact Group resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine supported the initiative of Russia’s Plenipotentiary Representative at the Minsk talks Boris Gryzlov on another ceasefire. The ceasefire, the seventh since the start of hostilities, was introduced from midnight on January 14.
Minsk accords
The Minsk agreements, approved in the Belarussian capital on February 12, 2015 by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France alongside the Contact Group resolving the Ukraine conflict, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and people’s militias starting from February 15. The 13-point package of measures adopted in Minsk contains withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line disengaging the Kiev troops and militias of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as measures on long-term political settlement in Donbass.