"As a result of the first shelling, 11 people sustained injuries, ambulances later took five more people to hospital. The total figure for one evening is 16," the ministry said Tuesday as quoted by the Luhansk Information Center.
According to the ministry, Luhansk came under fire from Uragan multiple-rocket launchers.
The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), deployed in Ukraine by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said in its Tuesday situation report that there had been 38 ceasefire violations in the 24 hours preceding Monday morning, according to the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) in Luhansk.
Kiev forces have recently intensified shelling in southeastern Ukraine, having officially acknowledged that a major security operation was being carried out in the Donetsk region, particularly at the Donetsk airport.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the deteriorating situation in southeastern Ukraine is caused by Kiev's desire to forcibly suppress the people living in the region.
Kiev started military action in southeastern Ukraine in mid-April, 2014, in response to local residents' refusal to recognize the new government, which came to power as a result of a coup in February.
In September a ceasefire agreement was reached between Kiev and the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk (LPR and DPR) at a meeting in Minsk, attended by representatives from Russia and the OSCE. However, despite the truce, fighting continues in southeastern Ukraine.
