Donetsk Authorities Register 16 Artillery Attacks by Kiev in Past 24 Hours

DONETSK (Sputnik) — Authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine have registered a total of 16 artillery attacks by Kiev-led forces in violation of the Minsk peace accords, a senior DPR military official said Friday.

"We have registered 16 artillery attacks from the Ukrainian side, including three instances of mortar shelling at the Donetsk airport," deputy commander of the DPR militia Eduard Basurin told a news briefing in Donetsk.

Basurin added that officials form the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine, who were at the Donetsk airport at the time of the shelling, noted that the attacks were carried out from the Ukrainian positions along the line of contact.

According to Basurin, on Friday, the Ukrainian side impeded the work of the SMM at least twice. First, by not letting the Mission's monitors observe the withdrawal of Kiev's heavy weaponry near the town of Volnovakha and second, by not letting two OSCE vehicles that left the DPR-controlled territories to return back.

Basurin added that DPR authorities have registered the withdrawal of several units of heavy weaponry by Kiev but have no idea where they are being moved. Earlier of Friday, he stated that under the guise of withdrawing heavy artillery, the Ukrainian side was holding a covert rotation.

The ceasefire in Donbas entered into force on February 15, as stipulated by the new Minsk agreements worked out by the leaders of Russia, France, Ukraine and Germany.