Interfax: Donetsk militias register 37 ceasefire breaches by Ukrainians, including artillery attacks

DONETSK. May 11 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian military have shelled the Donbas territory nearly 40 times in the past 24 times, the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said on Monday.

“Over the past 24 hours we have registered 37 instances of ceasefire violation, including the use of artillery,” the ministry said in a statement, according to the Donetsk News Agency.

Several cities and towns came under fire, including Donetsk, Horlivka, Spartak, Zhabichevo, Belaya Kamyanka and Golma.

The ministry also confirmed the overnight mortar attack on the village of Sakhanka, Novoazov district, which was reported the day earlier by the rural head, Alexander Pelipas.

“Data about casualties among civilians and militias are being checked,” the ministry said.

For his part, the military-operation spokesperson in the Ukrainian presidential administration, Oleksandr Motuzianik, said at a briefing on Monday that the militias in eastern Ukraine had continued to stockpile weapons and munitions near Donetsk and Stanitsa Luhanska in the past 24 hours.

“(The militias) violate the Minsk agreements all the time by using artillery weapons which must be removed under the truce terms,” he said.

Militias launched 16 shell attacks against the army positions, using 120 millimeter grenade launchers, and once fired a 122 millimeter artillery weapon, he said

Peski remains the main hotspot in the Donetsk region, with the Ukrainian military having registered ten shell attacks against their positions there. Militant activity near Horlivka has abated slightly.

In Luhansk region, the truce is being violated near Schastya, Stanitsa Luhansk, Zolotoye and Krymskoye, the spokesperson said.

Near Mariupol, the village of Shyrokyne has again become an epicenter of the standoff. Seventeen instances of ceasefire violation by militias have been recorded there. Militias also shelled the villages of Mirnoye, Chermalyk and Pishchevik.

Motuzianik also said that the militias continued using unmanned aerial vehicles for aerial reconnaissance. Ukrainian border guards have spotted five such drones flying over Donetsk and Luhansk regions.