MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military for the past 24 hours opened fire from mortars on positions of the militia in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), the republic’s defense authority said on Monday.
"Over the past 24 hours, we fixed one case of violation - at 20:40 the Kiev military opened fire from positions in Luganskoye on the Kalinovka settlement," the LuganskInformCenter quoted the authority. "They used mortars and grenade launchers (58 and ten shots respectively)."
"No casualties," the militia said on Monday.
Press service of the Ukrainian punitive operation in war-torn Donbass - in their turn - accused the self-proclaimed republics of 38 violations of the ceasefire regime.
The military and militia of the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine’s south-east have agreed several times a ceasefire regime in the conflict zone, but OSCE monitors are still fixing fire exchanges.
At the meeting of the Contact Group on January 13 the sides supported the initiative of Russia’s envoy Boris Gryzlov on ensuring complete ceasefire on the territory of Donbass. This was the seventh attempt to observe fully the ceasefire regime in Ukraine’s war-torn south-east.
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 leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine. The package of measures also envisages 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 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in a comment on the 13th report on Ukraine, the document shows that "the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine remains tenuous, with reported violations of the ceasefire, the continued occurrences of indiscriminate shelling and the presence of anti-personnel mines and remnants of war. Between 16 November 2015 and 15 February 2016, 78 conflict-related civilian casualties were recorded in eastern Ukraine, bringing the estimated casualty figures since the beginning of the conflict to more than 30,000 people, including at least 9,160 killed and 21,000 injured (figures include civilians as well as Ukrainian armed forces, and members of armed groups).
"The implementation of the Minsk Agreements is the only viable strategy for achieving a peaceful solution in certain areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by armed groups, which, in turn, is key for resolving the human rights crisis in Ukraine. This includes the restoration of effective control by the Government of Ukraine over the border with the Russian Federation and the withdrawal of foreign fighters, mercenaries and military equipment," the commissioner said.