MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti) – Overnight shelling in southeastern Ukraine killed 7 civilians and wounded at least 30 people, the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said Tuesday.
"Over 25 ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian side have been registered overnight," the DPR headquarters said, adding that in the past 24 hours the Ukrainian forces have violated the ceasefire 45 times.
According to DPR, 5 civilians were wounded in shelling in Donetsk. Another 25 civilians were wounded and 7 were killed during attacks on 9 different villages in the region. 5 independence fighters were wounded in the attacks.
On Monday, the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) released a report, saying that shelling continues in Donetsk and Luhansk regions despite the ceasefire agreement reached between Kiev forces and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier on Monday, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko told RIA Novosti that the number of ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine was on decline. Zakharchenko stressed that the self-defense forces do not open fire first, but respond when Kiev troops start bombing cities.
On Saturday, Zakharchenko announced that a "silence regime" was going into effect in the Donetsk region. He added that the pullout of artillery and military hardware would begin after the "silence regime" holds for five days.
Kiev launched a military operation against independence supporters in southeastern Ukraine in April, after they refused to recognize the new government which came to power in the country as a result of the February coup.
On September 5 a ceasefire agreement was signed between the two sides at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk. Both independence supporters and Kiev forces have subsequently accused each other of violating the truce.
