MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have shelled the settlement of Staromikhaylovka to the west of Donetsk from heavy weapons on Tuesday evening, a source in security agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Wednesday.

"Around 9:30pm Ukrainian forces opened fire at the settlement of Staromikhaylovka and their own positions in Krasnogorvka from weapons of 152mm caliber. In total, the enemy fired 16 mines at Staromikhaylovka during the shelling. Talking about Krasnogorovka, intelligence should verify the exact number of mines," Donetsk News Agency quoted the source as saying.

The source noted that Ukrainian forces opened fire from the Gornyak village to the north-west of Krasnogorvka (controlled by Kiev in three kilometers from the contact line). He added that Ukrainian forces might have shelled their own positions because of lack of coordination or in order to stage a provocation. "Considering the fact that talks on easing tensions in Donbass are currently underway in Minsk, Kiev may try to use this to disrupt the agreements necessary for the region by traditionally accusing the Donetsk side of the shelling," he said.

At the meeting of the Contact Group on January 13 the sides supported the initiative of Russia’s envoy Boris Gryzlov on ensuring complete ceasefire on the territory of Donbass. This is the seventh attempt to fully observe the ceasefire regime in Ukraine’s south-east. At the recent meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk the participants expressed regret over continuing violations of ceasefire regime in Donbass.

Ceasefire is envisaged by the Minsk accords signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. The package of measures also envisages weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.