LUGANSK, December 29. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military violated the Christmas ceasefire, shelling the militia’s positions in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), the LPR mission to the to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Ukrainian military violated the ceasefire on the very first day. At 16:20 (13:20 GMT), the LPR militia’s positions near the Novotoshkovskoye settlement was shelled from the direction of the Donetsky township, the attack involved grenade launchers and other light weapons," the Luganskinformcenter news agency said, citing the statement.

According to the LPR mission, "statements that Kiev’s envoys to the negotiations make about Ukraine’s determination to abide by the agreements and refrain from violating the ceasefire are untrue."

On December 27, members of the Contact Group on resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine made a Christmas ceasefire agreement, which took effect on December 29. However, on the same day, the Ukrainian military shelled the outskirts of Donetsk.

The previous ceasefire in Donbass took effect on August 29. However, both the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics continued to record the Ukrainian military’s attacks. In addition, the DPR and LPR intelligence agencies said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had deployed heavy weapons, including those banned by the Minsk Agreements, to the disengagement line.