MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/.  Spokesman for militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Andrey Marochko on Monday said that Ukrainian government forces have shelled a patrol of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) near the checkpoint in Stanitsa Luganskaya.

"Today at 11am near the checkpoint in Stanitsa Luganskaya, a patrol of OSCE’s SMM was shelled by Ukrainian forces from small arms. This fact serves as evidence that Kiev authorities are not ready to peaceful dialogue and are trying in every possible way to hamper the opening of the checkpoint planned for tomorrow," Lugansk Inform Center quoted Marochko as saying.

He also addressed OSCE’s SMM with a request to make every possible effort to stop provocations by Ukrainian forces and violations of the Minsk Agreements by Kiev. "We, in turn, are ready to cooperate with international organizations, as well as with Kiev’s leadership, despite continuing provocations by Ukrainian Armed Forces, because our only aim is achieving ceasefire on the whole territory of our young republic," Marochko concluded.