LUGANSK, February 13. /TASS/. Ukraine’s armed forces plan to send an assault force to the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Ivan Filiponenko, a spokesman for the LPR People’s Militia, said on Sunday.

According to Filiponenko, units of the 79th assault airborne brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces "are getting prepared for the deployment as a tactical assault force in the republic’s hinterlands." "Commander of the United Forces Operation (Kiev’s armed operation in Donbass - TASS) [Alexander] Pavlyuk has arrived in the settlement of Voitovo to check the combat readiness of the 1st battalion," he said.

He also said that DPR’s air defense units conducted drills to be able to timely repel a possible attack.

The situation in Donbass deteriorated dramatically on January 9, when Ukrainian troops resumed shelling along the entire contact line after a lengthy ceasefire.

Additional measures to control the ceasefire along the contact line in Donbass have been in force since July 27, 2020. The agreement came a year after the so-called indefinite ceasefire was declared by the parties on July 21, 2019, following more than 20 futile attempts to stop hostilities. Under the agreement, the parties to the conflict are banned from staging offensive and reconnaissance operations, the use of any type of drone, opening fire, including from sniper weapons, and deploying heavy weapons in populated localities and adding engineering equipment at their positions. One of the key provisions is the use of disciplinary measures for ceasefire violations.