Russia-Ukraine crisis: Lugansk People's Republic accuses Kyiv military of mortar shelling

Amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the LPR office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC), said that the Ukrainian military fired mortar shells against the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) twice, news agency Sputnik reported on Friday. According to JPCC, the firing has been going on since Thursday midnight. 

"The Ukrainian forces have shelled LPR 29 times, including with the use of heavy weapons in the last 24 hours," Sputnik quoted the LPR mission to the JCCC as saying.

"The Ukrainian army used 122-millimetre artillery systems, large-calibre mortars and anti-tank guided missiles," added the LPR mission.

According to the Russian news agency, the situation in the Dobass region started deteriorating on Thursday after the Ukrainian military started motor shelling against the Lugansk People.

Earlier on February 4, Ivan Filiponenko, a military spokesman for the LPR had said that the armed forces of Kyiv have entered the last phase in their preparation for aggression in Donbas. On January 31, Leonid Pasechnik, an LPR leader stated that Kyiv is moving heavy weapons and equipment to the southeast of Ukraine.

Leonid Pasechnik told Sputnik that Ukraine was hiding the weapons and equipment from observers of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

"Minsk agreement is still in the papers"

It is worth mentioning the battle between Ukraine's government and the breakaway Donetsk and, Lugansk republics is not new. It has been going on since 2014. In order to control the violence in the Dobass region, an agreement what is called the Minsk agreement was signed in February 2015.

The agreement came after hard negotiations by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine — the Normandy group. However, the agreement is still in the papers as it has not been implemented yet, resulting in sporadic clashes. On one hand, the Russian government accuses Ukraine of not following the Minsk agreement and on the other hand, Kyiv claims Moscow of delaying negotiations.

On Tuesday, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed some of its troops were returning from the Ukrainian border to their bases after months. However, on Thursday, fears of a new war in Europe resurfaced as US President Joe Biden warned that Russia could invade Ukraine within days.

According to the US intelligence report, Russia is believed to have built up around 150,000 military forces along Ukraine’s borders. Though Moscow claimed the assembling of troops was only meant for military and naval drills, western countries raised concerns that Moscow could use them to execute their plan. While speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, "We see this as certainly more of an escalator and not a de-escalator action."

Image: AP