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Ukrainian military fire more than 150 shells on Donetsk Republic - spokesman

Near Mariupol, he continued, the Ukrainian military fired 19 mines of 120mm caliber, and near Gorlovka they used grenade launchers and small arms

DONETSK, July 1. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military over the past 24 hours fired on settlements of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) more than 150 mines and shells, spokesman of the republic’s command Eduard Basurin told the Donetsk News Agency on Saturday.

"Near Donetsk, the enemy fired ten artillery shells of 122mm caliber, 50 tank shells, six mines of 82mm and 67 mines of 120mm calibers," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him.

Near Mariupol, he continued, the Ukrainian military fired 19 mines of 120mm caliber, and near Gorlovka they used grenade launchers and small arms.

Earlier on Saturday, the command reported 36 violations of ceasefire from positions of the Ukrainian military, as they opened fire on 14 settlements in the republic.

Since autumn 2014, the Contact Group on the settlement in Donbass has agreed more than ten ceasefires but none lasted for long, with Ukrainian troops repeatedly breaking them down and opening fire at the DPR’s territories from heavy weapons, which should have been withdrawn from the line of engagement in compliance with the Minsk peace agreements on settlement of the situation in Ukraine.

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 ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donbass (DPR and LPR), starting from February 15, 2015, and a 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.