Ukrainian military disrupt repair works in Zaitseve by opening fire – Russian representative in JCCC

DONETSK. Jan 18 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian Armed Forces have disrupted the restoration works in the area of Zaitseve by opening fire, a representative of the Russian Armed Forces in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) told reporters.

“Today, on January 18, the works, which were determined as priority in Minsk on January 13, 2016, began in four sections in the Horlivka area. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have disrupted the fulfillment of the works by opening fire from their positions in the Zhovinka locality [north of Horlivka] against the site of the repair works in the Zaitseve area. The works had to be wrapped up an hour before their planned completion,” the representative of the Russian Armed Forces in the JCCC told reporters.

He also said that the works would be continued in all sections in the Horlivka area on Tuesday to implement the agreements which have been reached in Minsk. He said that it was the Russian side in the JCCC which has arranged and has coordinated the start of the repair and restoration works on the restoration of the vital infrastructure.

In turn, the Kyiv headquarters of the military operation have rejected the statement by the Russian representatives in the JCCC that the Ukrainian military had allegedly opened the fire in the Zaitseve area. “The ATO forces are rigorously honoring the Minsk agreements and are strictly honoring the full ceasefire,” speaker of the military operation Andrij Zadubynny told Interfax.

Senior official with the DPR Defense Ministry Eduard Basurin told reporters previously that the Ukrainian military had shelled the Zaitseve locality,and that the monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission have recorded this.