LUGANSK, May 18. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army has shelled the positions of people’s militia in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) six times over the past 24 hours, the LPR defense ministry said on Saturday.

"The shelling targeted the areas of Pervomaisk, the urban-type settlement of Frunze, the villages of Zhelobok and Smeloye," the LuganskInformCenter news agency quoted a spokesman for the LPR people’s militia as saying.

According to the spokesman, the fire was conducted from mortars.

The Contact Group’s security subgroup agreed to declare a new ‘spring’ ceasefire in Donbass on March 7. It entered into force from the midnight of March 8 according to the Kiev time (01:00 Moscow time). However, the Ukrainian military broke the truce just five minutes after it had taken effect.