LIVE UPDATES: Kiev's Forces Fire Over 400 Shells Towards DPR, Situation Remains Acute, Donetsk Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic’s (LPR) mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination on the ceasefire regime (JCCC) is reporting a total of nearly 50 violations by Kiev forces in the course of Saturday.

"Over the past 24 hours, on February 19, 2022, 49 violations of the ceasefire regime were recorded on the part of the armed formations of Ukraine, including with the use of heavy artillery," the LPR authorities said in a Sunday statement.

DONETSK (Sputnik) - Kiev forces have shelled three settlements in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) in Ukraine’s southeast (Donbas), using 120-mm caliber mines prohibited by the Minsk agreements, the DPR mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination on the ceasefire regime (JCCC) says.

A total of twenty 120-mm caliber mines were launched at the settlements of Komunarivka and Staromykhailivka. Twenty-five 122-mm caliber shells were fired at the settlement of Petrivske, according to DPR authorities.

Earlier in the night, the DPR mission said that Kiev forces had fired twelve 120-mm caliber mines at the city of Donetsk and four 122-mm shells at the settlement of Oleksandrivka located in Donetsk suburbs. Several other settlements in DPR were also shelled in the early hours of Sunday using grenades and mines prohibited by the Minsk agreements.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the European Union condemns the shelling of civilian areas in southeastern Ukraine (Donbas), but sees no proof that Kiev is preparing an attack against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR).

"The EU condemns the use of heavy weaponry and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, which constitute a clear violation of the Minsk agreements and international humanitarian law," Borrell said in a Saturday statement.

He called for a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine to address the escalation of the situation.

"The EU sees no grounds for allegations coming from the non-governmental controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of a possible Ukrainian attack," Borrell specified.

DONETSK (Sputnik) - The Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination on the ceasefire regime (JCCC) says that Kiev forces have shelled six more settlements in DPR, in violation of the Minsk agreements.

Late on Saturday, the DPR people’s militia said that Ukrainian security forces had fired 424 shells and mines on the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

DONETSK (Sputnik) - Sounds of explosions are heard coming from the outskirts of Donetsk, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

There have been no official reports from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), but the sounds of the blasts are clearly audible from the Donetsk suburbs, the Sputnik correspondent says.

On Friday, an explosion occurred near the DPR government building in the center of Donetsk. DPR said that a security official's car was blown up.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered to detect unlawful acts committed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas region, the committee said on Saturday.

"The Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, instructed heads of the main investigative directorate, the investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Rostov region, as well as heads of other regional investigation departments of the Russian Investigative Committee, in the service territory of which the refugees will arrive, to take comprehensive measures to establish and record criminal actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas," the committee said in a statement.

Employees of the main investigative directorate and experts of the central office were dispatched to the city of Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border to organize and coordinate the operations of the committee staff in the region, upon Bastrykin's order.

The main task of the staff is to detect evidence of criminal actions of the Ukrainian forces in Donbas and inform the committee head about the situation, according to the agency.

On Friday, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic announced the evacuation of their citizens to the Rostov region over the escalation of tensions on the contact line.

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Russia's Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Saturday that it is surprised by the reaction of the organization's leadership to the developments in eastern Ukraine.

"Surprised by reaction of OSCE CiO Z.Rau, his Special Rep. for Ukraine M.Kinnunen & OSCE SG H. Schmid on the situation in eastern Ukraine. All them reproduced statements of [Ukraine's] military command that 'reports on preparations by #UkrainianArmedForces for an offensive are disinformation'," the mission said on Twitter.

The mission also expressed regrets that Rau and Kinnunen once again did not listen to Russia's warnings made during their visit to Moscow on Tuesday.

"All this instead of calling on Kiev to comply w/ #MinskAgreements & Measures to strengthen ceasefire of 22/07/2020. Meanwhile, they were silent when @OSCE_SMM confirmed in Oct.2021 offensive actions by [Ukraine's] ArmedForces in southern Donetsk region. Impartiality, you say?" the mission tweeted.

Over 3,100 people were evacuated on Saturday from the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to Russia after the authorities of the Donbass republics announced mass evacuation over the deterioration of the situation in the region.

"Today from 08:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. [05:00 to 14:00 GMT] 2,266 people were evacuated by road transport, 908 people by railway. There are 61 evacuation points on the LPR territory. As many as 219 buses and 1 train are involved. A total of 16,747 people have been evacuated since yesterday," the LPR territorial defence staff said in a statement.

Ukrainian security forces fired 424 shells and mines on the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Saturday, with the situation on the line of contact remaining critical, the DPR people's militia said.

"As of 5:00 p. m. [15:00 GMT], the enemy opened fire 39 times on the DPR territory... launching 424 shells and mines. Areas of 21 settlements in the DPR came under fire. Various types of grenade launchers and small arms were also used. In total, more than 627 shells, mines and grenades were fired on the DPR territory," the militia said in a statement.

Furthermore, the DPR mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination on the ceasefire regime (JCCC) reported that the operation of a pumping station in the Vasilievka village was halted due to the transformer explosion after shelling on Saturday.

According to the statement, the Ukrainian security forces were aware about the presence of the JCCC representatives and media in the area when opened fire on the Vasilievka pumping station.

"The enemy opened fire on the area where the representatives of the JCCC, people's militia and media crews were present. A particular cynicism lies in the fact that the Ukrainian militants perfectly saw who they were firing at, as they used a drone to adjust the shelling," the statement read.

The DPR militia added that the facts of ceasefire violations have been promptly reported to the Ukrainian side in the JCCC.

"[The Ukrainian side] refuses to respond to our statements and take prompt action to ensure a ceasefire by the enemy," the militia added.

Self-Proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) mission to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops shelled three more Donbass settlements.

According to the DPR, the settlements of Horlivka, Komunarovka and Dolomitne were targeted.

Moreover, DPR Militia spokesman Eduard Basurin said that shelling in Donbass is ongoing.