DONETSK, March 11. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military launched 550 shells and mines on settlement of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), spokesman of the republic’s command Eduard Basurin said on Saturday.
"Here is the amount of weapons, outlawed by the Minsk agreements, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used against the republic: heavy artillery - 113 shells, mortars of various calibers - 427 mines," the spokesman said. "The losses were one serviceman killed."
Under fire were 14 settlements, he said.
The republic’s reconnaissance reported the Ukrainian military had pulled heavy weapons and trucks with armory to Primorskoye and Magdalinovka.
On February 15, the Contact Group made another decision stipulating that all weapons banned by the Minsk agreements should be withdrawn from the line of contact by February 20. Foreign ministers of the four member states of the Normandy Quartet (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine) upheld this initiative at a meeting that took place on February 18. However, according to the self-proclaimed republics, Kiev has been hampering the implementation of this decision. The Ukrainian authorities, in turn, have been accusing the self-proclaimed republics of violating the ceasefire.
Since the autumn of 2014, members of the Contact Group on settling the situation in eastern Ukraine have announced ceasefires in Donbass more than ten times. However, the Ukrainian military have been repeatedly violating ceasefires, particularly using large caliber guns, mortars and tanks that should be withdrawn from the line of contact in accordance with the Minsk agreements.
At the recent meeting of the Contact Group, held on March 1, the parties agreed to resume the weapons withdrawal process on March 7. However, the Ukrainian military refused to begin withdrawal under pretext of insecurity in the region.