LUGANSK, November 3. /TASS/. The Lugansk People's Republic should brace up for an aggravation on the engagement line in Donbass due to Kiev's policies that exacerbate the conflict, the LPR's leader, Leonid Pasechnik, said on Wednesday.
In his context, he recalled the Ukrainian forces' seizure of the Lugansk mission's monitor in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination Center, Andrei Kosyak.
"The war is near. Nobody has stopped it yet. In the light of the latest developments, the way tensions are being fanned, the disappearance of the JCCC monitor and everything else, including the [Ukrainian side's] statements all restrictions on the weapons being used against us have been lifted - all this merely looks like words, while in reality there may be something more serious behind it. We should stay on guard," the Lugansk Media Center quotes Pasechnik as saying.
Additional ceasefire control measures have been effective in Donbass since July 27, 2020. These measures, agreed by participants in the Contact Group, include a ban on offensive and reconnaissance operations and sabotage, on the use of aircraft and on bombardments and the deployment of heavy weapons in rural communities. Under one of the key clauses of the agreement disciplinary measures must be taken against those responsible for ceasefire violations. It is allowed to return fire only on direct orders from the command following an inquiry within the framework of the coordinating mechanism.
In defiance of these agreements the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said there were no restrictions on opening return fire for the commanders of Ukrainian forces in Donbass to abide by. He added that all such decisions were being made on site.
Tensions on the engagement line flared up again after a group of Ukrainian saboteurs seized an officer of the Lugansk People's Republic's mission in the JCCC, Andrey Kosyak, who was responsible for monitoring truce in the area of Pervomaisk-Zolotoye checkpoint for a period of road repairs, agreed with Kiev. In defiance of demands by LPR officials Kiev refuses to discuss his release.