DONETSK (Sputnik) – Kiev is amassing heavy artillery near the populated areas of Artemivsk, Mironivske, and Luhanske, thereby creating provocations in order to blame the eastern independence supporters of breaching the Minsk agreement, the deputy head of the militia from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said Monday.
"According to our information, the National Security of Ukraine’s command has secretly concentrated heavy artillery systems at the positions of the populated areas of Artemivsk, Mironivske, Svyatodarskoe, and Luhanske. They have also brought to the fronts of Artemivsk and Volodanskoe several concentrated groups of journalists, including foreign journalists, with photo and video cameras," Eduard Basurin said.
According to Basurin, Kiev forces are preparing to provoke the eastern region to open fire.
"This way they can show that we have breached the Minsk agreement and blame us for breaching it," Basurin said.
DPR representative Denis Pushilin said earlier that Horlivka, a city northeast of DPR regional center Donetsk, came under fire three times on Sunday.
The towns of Artemivsk, Mironivske and Luhanske lie some 40 kilometers away (25 miles) from Horlivka and in dangerous proximity to Debaltseve, where Ukrainian troops are under siege from militia forces.
The hostilities come amid a ceasefire which began in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The truce was agreed on by Ukrainian, Russian, French and German leaders and signed by envoys from the warring parties, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe.
One of the key points in the peace plan is the pullout of heavy artillery from the conflict area to create a buffer zone 50 to 140 kilometers wide.
