DONETSK, February 3. /TASS/. The Kiev troops shelled two Russian observation points of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) near Yasinovataya late on Thursday, said Maj. Gen. Albert Budyshkin, who heads the the Russian mission to the JCCC.
"Yet again, the "Yasinovataya" and "Bezymennoye" JCCC observer groups were shelled," he was quoted as saying by the Donetsk News Agency. "The shelling was conducted with the use of 152-mm field guns and mortars. In both cases, the observers had to take shelter in basements."
He said the Yasinovataya observation point was shelled four times this week, including from multiple launch rocket systems.
Recently, a group of observers from the JCCC and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, led by OSCE SMM deputy chief Alexander Hug, was shelled by Ukrainian troops in Yasinovataya.
In the past few days, the situation along the line of contact has deteriorated drastically. The Ukrainian military’s shelling has caused civilian deaths and casualties and damaged infrastructure facilities. On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement condemning the use of weapons banned by the Minsk agreements and calling on the sides to immediately halt the fire.
On February 1, the Contact Group on settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine held a meeting in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, demanding that hostilities in Donbass be stopped, weapons and military hardware be withdrawn from the line of contact by February 5.