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OSCE registers record number of ceasefire violations in Donbass since Sept 2015

Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, said the sides in the Ukrainian conflict had created an unacceptable situation on the line of contact
OSCE observers in Ukraine (archive) Mikhail Sokolov/TASS
OSCE observers in Ukraine (archive)
© Mikhail Sokolov/TASS

VIENNA, April 7 /TASS/. Monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine registered a record number of ceasefire violations in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Thursday since the sides agreed on a ceasefire in September 2015, Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, said in a statement posted on the OSCE website.

He said the sides (in the Ukrainian conflict) had created an unacceptable situation on the line of contact.

According to a source at the self-ptoclaimed Donetsk republic's defense ministry, the Ukrainian army has shelled the territory of the DPR along the line of contact 327 times over the past 24 hours,  It was reported by the local Donetsk News Agency (DNA) on Thursday.

"Over the past 24 hours the Ukrainian army has shelled the republic’s territory 327 times. The situation in the DPR remains tense," the source said.

The DPR ministry added that the Ukrainian army had launched 123 82 mm and 120 mm mortar shells at the republic’s populated localities and had also used infantry combat vehicles, various types of grenade launchers and small arms.

According to the ministry, the villages of Zaitsevo and Shirokaya Balka near Gorlovka; Vesyoloye, Vasilyevka and Spartak to the north of Donetsk, the outskirts of Donetsk airport and the Volvo-Center in the northern part of Donetsk as well as the Kominternovo and Bezymennoye villages in the south of the DPR came under most intensive shelling that involved the use of weapons banned by the Minsk agreements.

The Ukrainian army shells killed three DPR militias. Another five militias were wounded.