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Kiev forces shell outskirts of Donetsk and Dokuchaevsk from mortars - DPR

According to the source, Kiev forces fired 27 shells at DPR territory. Information about victims and damages is being verified

© EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV, archive

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have shelled the western outskirts of Donetsk and Dokuchaevsk in the evening, a source in law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Saturday.

"At 9:45pm Ukrainian forces opened fire from mortars of 120mm caliber at the settlements of Staromikhaylovka and Dokuchaevsk. Shellings stopped by 11pm," Donetsk News Agency quoted the source as saying.

According to the source, Kiev forces fired 27 shells at DPR territory. Information about victims and damages is being verified.

The settlement of Zaytsevo was also subjected to massive shelling by Ukrainian forces on Friday, head of local administration Irina Dikun said.

The participants of the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine agreed on observing Easter ceasefire starting from April 30. However, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics (DPR and LPR) and Kiev forces continue accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime 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 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.

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