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DPR militia source reports Donbass checkpoint shelling

The source reports Ukrainian forces shelled a checkpoint on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway using mortars and grenade launchers

© Valentin Sprinchak/TASS

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Militia source reports Donetsk outskirts shelling last night

MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. A source in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia on Wednesday said Ukrainian forces shelled a checkpoint on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.

"Ukrainian forces opened fire at the checkpoint near Yasinovataya from 82mm mortars around 8:30 am," Donetsk News Agency quoted the source as saying.

Kiev forces opened fire from their positions near Avdeyevka, they also used grenade launchers and other types of firearms, the source said.

The part of the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway near Yasinovataya checkpoint is regularly shelled from heavy weaponry by Kiev forces. In particular, Ukrainian forces shelled the territory for two hours yesterday.

The participants of the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine agreed on observing Easter ceasefire starting from April 30. However, the self-proclaimed Donbass republics and Kiev forces continue accusing each other of violating the 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.

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