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DPR: Kiev troops getting prepared for offensive, move headquarters closer to contact line

The DPR defense ministry said earlier that the situation in the republic has deteriorated, with a total of 442 episodes of shelling by Ukrainian troops reported in the past day

© AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov

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Kiev moves heavy weaponry to contact line — DPR defense ministry

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. The command of Ukraine’s armed forces are moving their headquarters and control centers closer to the line of engagement in Donbass as part of preparations for an offensive, Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Tuesday.

"According to our reconnaissance, the headquarters and control centers of the 72nd and 128th brigades of the Ukrainian army are being moved from the rear of the Kiev’s force operation in Donbass closer to the line of engagement. This fact testifies that Ukraine’s military political command is getting prepared for further large-scale provocations," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.

The DPR defense ministry said earlier that the situation in the republic has deteriorated, with a total of 442 episodes of shelling by Ukrainian troops reported in the past day.

The Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements, known as Minsk-2, that was signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015 envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk starting from February 15, 2015 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.

On January 13, 2016, the Trilateral Contact Group meeting in the Belarusian capital city Minsk agreed on yet another, the seventh, ceasefire in Donbass from January 14. The sides however continue to accuse each other of ceasefire violation.

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