MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - Sixty-eight Ukrainian soldiers and 51 civilians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement was reached between Kiev and independence supporters on September 5, the statement posted on Ukraine's Foreign Affairs' Twitter account said.
According to the statement, since September 5 the independence militia has violated the ceasefire 1400 times, which resulted in the deaths of 68 Ukrainian soldiers and 51 civilians and left 428 people wounded.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) stated that Ukrainian forces had violated the ceasefire 45 times in the past 24 hours, adding that overnight shelling in southeastern Ukraine had killed seven and wounded at least 30 people.
The five-day silence regime announced on Saturday and intended to precede heavy weaponry pullout from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, is coming to its close, with DPR having announced that it wouldn't pull out its troops since the regime was not being observed by the Ukrainian side.
In April, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in the country's southeast, where independence supporters refused to accept the new government that was put in power following a coup in February.
On September 5, the Trilateral Contact Group on the situation in Ukraine met in Minsk. The group consists of representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As a result of the meeting, the Kiev authorities and the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk agreed on a ceasefire, which took effect on the day. The sides also agreed to an international monitoring, exchange of prisoners and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
