“During the entire period of the ceasefire, Ukrainian troops continued to conduct intensive shelling of settlements and Russian positions,” the ministry said.
The Ukrainian army has conducted around 370 artillery strikes against the Russian army’s positions in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions during the ceasefire, according to the defense ministry. Ukrainian troops fired over 160 large-caliber shells and 20 rockets against residential areas of Donetsk, the ministry said.
Today, Ukrainian artillery, which targeted settlements, has been suppressed by retaliation fire of Russian troops, the Defense Ministry concluded
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Defense Ministry to introduce a 36-hour ceasefire along the line of contact between the warring sides in Ukraine from January 6-7 to allow Orthodox Christians in the areas of hostilities to attend church on Orthodox Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Olexiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defense council, rejected the truce offer. On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian troops continued shelling in the Donbas despite the ceasefire observed by Moscow.