Militia source says Kyiv forces fired some 240 shells at village in buffer …
MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Ukrainian troops on Friday reportedly fired about 240 mines at the village of Kominternovo in the buffer zone in Donbas, a source in law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) told the Donetsk News Agency.
“The shelling of the village of Kominternovo started at about 13:00 local time and ended at about 16:00. Ukrainian troops fired at least 240 mines of 82mm caliber. Moreover, the settlement was shelled from tanks,” the source said.
According to the source, Ukrainian troops also opened mortar fire at the territory of the former Donetsk airport.
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, signed a 13-point Package of Measures to fulfil the September 2014 Minsk agreements. The package was agreed with the leaders of the Normandy Four, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine.
The Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk starting from February 15 and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also laid out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including local elections and constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.
On Tuesday, December 22, the Trilateral Contact Group meeting in the Belarusian capital city Minsk yielded an agreement between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics in Donbas to cease fire “fully and unconditionally” from 00:00 on December 23. However Ukrainian troops reportedly continue to violate ceasefire.