Russia-backed separatists accuse Ukrainian forces of ceasefire violations, mortar shelling

The Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine are accusing Ukraine’s armed forces of ‘continued cease-fire violations’ and using the machine guns, and other heavy weaponry to launch attacks and “shake peace”, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday. The Russia-backed separatists derided Kyiv’s government of consistent breach of the 2015 Minsk Agreement, that was struck in the Belarusian capital in a bid to end the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. 

The Minsk II pact, though, could never be fully implemented. The areas in Ukraine's Donbas region have since been marred with clashes and armed offensives, and later were declared the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The Minsk agreements were signed by the Russia and Ukraine leaders under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) with due endorsement from UN Security Council resolution. 

Ukrainian soldier watches through a periscope at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk, Ukraine. Ukraine and the West have become increasingly worried about the presence of more Russian troops and urged Moscow to pull them back. [Credit: AP Photo/File]

Ukrainian troops take part in a military drill outside the city of Rivne, northern Ukraine. [Credit: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP]

“Armed forces of Ukraine have rudely violated the ceasefire regime, using heavy weapons, which, according to the Minsk agreements, should be withdrawn,” the Russian backed rebels from the Luhansk in the Ukrainian-Russian ceasefire control group said, according to Russia’s Interfax.

As tensions are ripe between Russia and Ukraine in the recent months over the heavy troop concentration on the frontier with Kyiv, several violations of the ceasefire were reported happening mostly near the village of Prychepylivka in Novoaidar Raion. The area is situated approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of occupied Luhansk territory. In a statement issued earlier by the Joint Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a series of attacks were carried out by Russia’s separatists that mostly target critical Army positions of the Joint Forces Operation area. Several such offensives have been launched in regions, west of Luhansk and south of Donetsk, the two main territories of friction between Russia and Ukraine. 

Earlier, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded in shelling when Ukrainian troops came under attack near Prychepylivka village, as alleged by the Ukrainian Army.  OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has reported that over 132 cease-fire violations have occurred including 19 explosions in Donetsk just last month. Of the 191 cease-fire violations, as many as 45 were assessed as a live-fire exercise outside the security zone in Luhansk. The Russian forces entered the Crimean Peninsula back in 2014 when Putin allegedly divided the Donbas region into two separate federal subjects of the Russian Federation.