MOSCOW. August 3 (RIA Novosti) – The mortar shell fire was opened from Ukraine’s territory near Gukovo border checkpoint, where OSCE observers worked alongside with Russian border officers, Vasily Malev, a representative of the Russian Security Service in the Rostov Region told RIA Novosti on Sunday.
“A mortar shell was opened in the area of Gukovo border checkpoint. No casualties reported,” Malev said.
A group of OSCE observers started round-the-clock monitoring of Russia’s Gukovo and Donetsk crossing points on the border with Ukraine on July 30.
Russia invited OSCE monitors in the beginning of July to assess the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, which has been hit multiple times by Ukrainian artillery. On July 13, shells exploded in the Russian city of Donetsk in Rostov Region, killing one civilian and injuring two more.
Russia’s Rostov Region borders Ukraine’s eastern regions, the scene of fighting between the Ukrainian Army and independence forces refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the new government. Hundreds of people, including civilians have died in both regions over the past few months.
On July 30, Rostov’s regional government reported that since the military operation in southeastern Ukraine started, one person has been killed and nine injured on the Russian territory as a result of Ukrainian shelling.
Moscow condemned the attacks, saying that such provocations may have irreversible consequences.
