Ukrainian forces reportedly shelled settlements in DPR’s south

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MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have shelled the settlement of Kominternovo in the Novoazovsky district in the south of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the district’s deputy head Anatoly Yanovsky said on Tuesday.

"Around 8pm [on January 18] Ukrainian forces opened fire at the Kominternovo settlement. The shelling continued until 11pm," Yanovsky told Donetsk News Agency.

Commander of 9th regiment of the DPR defense ministry Colonel Andrey Oprischenko said that Kiev forces opened fire from their positions in the Vodyanoye village from mortars of 82mm caliber, infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms.

He also noted that Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the settlement of Sakhanka in the south of DPR. "Ukrainian forces started shelling the settlement of Sakhanka around 9pm. It continued for an hour," Oprischenko said adding that Kiev forces opened fire from their positions in the Shirokino village and fired more than 30 shots from mortars of 82mm caliber and grenade launchers.

Last week the Contact Group on settling the situation in south-east Ukraine agreed that it is necessary to observe the ceasefire regime in Donbass. This is the seventh attempt since autumn 2014 to fully observe the ceasefire in Donbass.

Ceasefire is envisaged by the Minsk accords signed on 12 February 2015, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.

The Minsk accords also envisage weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbass, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.

The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.