LUGANSK, July 13. /TASS/. Kiev’s forces have six times shelled the positions of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the east of Ukraine over the past 24 hours, the LPR Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.
"The Stanitsa Luganskaya area has three times come under fire opened from automatic grenade launchers and small arms. From the Luganskoye settlement area, the Kiev forces have twice shelled the Kalinovka settlement area, using infantry fighting vehicle weapons. On the Pervomaisk area, the Ukrainian side opened fire from a 82 mm caliber mortar from the Popasnaya area," the LPR people’s militia told the LuganskInformCenter agency.
According to LPR sources, no casualties have been reported as a result of the shelling.
Members of the Contact Group on settling the situation in the east of Ukraine agreed on observing 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.