LUGANSK, December 29. /TASS/. A subversive group of the Ukrainian military abducted a fighter of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), LPR people’s militia spokesman Ivan Filiponenko said on Wednesday.
"On December 27, a Ukrainian special operations subversive group abducted a serviceman of the LPR people’s militia. Traces of a struggle and blood stains were found on the spot where our fighter was located, which is evidence that violence was committed against him," the LPR people’s militia said in a statement posted on its Telegram сhannel.
The abducted fighter is being subjected to physical and moral pressure and is being fed banned medicines to force him to give false evidence, the statement says.
The Ukrainian army committed a new hostile act while Ukraine’s delegation in the Contact Group on settling the situation in Donbass "is initiating a new truce, trying to mislead the international community with its fake aspirations for peace," the LPR people’s militia said.
The Ukrainian subversive forces’ actions are a repeat of two previous abductions: the abduction of LPR representative in the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination Andrey Kosyak in October and a people’s militia fighter in November, it specified.
All these flagrant violations are "the result of the OSCE’s inactivity" and the absence of a proper reaction from the organization’s Special Monitoring Mission, Filiponenko stressed.
"We call on international observers of the OSCE Mission to document another flagrant violation of the ceasefire that entailed the abduction of a people’s militia fighter and to contribute to his release," the statement says.
The command of Ukraine’s Joint Force Operation in Donbass earlier announced that the Ukrainian armed forces had detained an LPR serviceman.
Deteriorating situation in Donbass
Intensive exchanges of gunfire have re-ignited at the contact line in Donbass since late February, despite additional ceasefire control measures. The situation worsened again on October 13 when Ukrainian special services captured a representative of the mission of the Lugansk People’s Republic to the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have accused Kiev of deliberately escalating the conflict.
The Contact Group on settling the situation in eastern Ukraine introduced additional measures that have been in effect since July 27, 2020, to control the ceasefire in Donbass.
Under the agreement, the conflicting parties in Donbass are prohibited from opening fire, carrying out offensive, reconnaissance and subversive operations, using any types of aircraft or deploying heavy weapons in populated localities. One of the key provisions is the use of disciplinary measures for ceasefire violations. Furthermore, any retaliatory fire in the event of an offensive is allowed only after a commander's direct order.
After a meeting of the Contact Group on December 22, Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andrey Yermak announced that the conflicting parties had agreed to restart a full-fledged ceasefire. For its part, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry assured that the country’s armed forces would observe the ceasefire "consistently and strictly," including with regard to "opening retaliatory fire."
The Lugansk People’s Republic has said that Ukraine’s assurances of its readiness to comply with the ceasefire send no clear signals to its military in the Donbass conflict area while DPR Head Denis Pushilin told TASS that Kiev’s statements continued to be just slogans.