DONETSK, February 17. /TASS/. The forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) had to open retaliatory fire to suppress the Ukrainian army’s weapons and protect civilians, spokesman for the DPR people’s militia Oleg Nikitin said in a statement on Thursday.

"In order to protect civilians, our defenders had to open retaliatory fire to suppress the enemy’s weapons," the spokesman said.

The data on civilians wounded and civil infrastructure facilities damaged in the bombardments is being specified. The ceasefire breaches were promptly brought to the notice of the Ukrainian side’s representatives in the Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center "in order to take measures against the offenders and rule out the instances of falsifying the registered data on ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian military," the spokesman said.

"We call on international observers and the leadership of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] to register yet another fact of the gross violation of the ceasefire by the Ukrainian side that is purposefully provoking the resumption of hostilities in Donbas," Nikitin stressed.