DONETSK, January 9. /TASS/. As many as 54 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian troops have been reported in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) since the beginning of the so-called New Year ceasefire, with more than 1,150 munitions hitting the republic’s territory, chief of the DPR’s mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) Ruslan Yakubov said on Tuesday.
"Since 01:00 a.m. local time on December 23, as many as 1,153 munitions have been fired by Ukrainian troops," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.
According to Yakubov, a total of 54 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian troops have been reported over that period. Ukrainian troops used mortars, weapons of armored vehicles, various types of grenade launchers and firearms. Most intense shelling was reported in settlement of Zaitsevo in Gorlovka’s northern suburb, in the city of Yasinovataya, in the village of Leninskoye in the south of the DPR, and in the area around Donetsk’s former airport.
Yet another ceasefire that had been agreed by the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of crisis in eastern Ukraine on December 20 came into force in Donbass on December 23. Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics reported that their territories had come under shelling by Ukrainian troops, shelling however was not that intense as before the ceasefire.