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Kiev forces reportedly used Grad rocket launcher to shell self-proclaimed Donetsk republic

According to the local defense ministry, the situation along the line of contact has escalated dramatically over the past 24 hours

© EPA/KONSTANTIN GRISHIN

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MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have used the Grad multiple rocket launchers for the first time since the beginning of this year to shell the territory west of Donetsk, the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Wednesday.

Commenting on this information, Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin accused Kiev of flagrant violations of the Minsk agreements. In his opinion, "it cannot be ruled out that the Ukrainian positions close to which the shells exploded could be the target of the shelling with the use of the Grad rocket launchers." "This was supposed to be a pretext for accusing the DPR armed forces of blatant violations of the agreements," Donetsk news agency quotes him as saying.

According to the defense ministry, the situation along the line of contact has escalated dramatically over the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian military shelled the DPR territory 222 times using the Grad multiple rockets launchers for the first time in 2016 whose projectiles exploded in the vicinity of the villages of Staromikhailovka and Tudovskiye.

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Ukraine crisis Eastern Ukraine

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