Consequences of shellingLUHANSK, February 18 of the republic, RIA Novosti was told at the LPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime (JCCC). Earlier, the People's Militia of the LPR reported that on February 17, the Armed Forces of Ukraine opened fire on the territory of the republic 29 times.
" (AFU . — Note ed.) grossly violated the ceasefire, using heavy weapons, which, in accordance with the Minsk agreements, should be withdrawn", the agency's interlocutor said.
According to him, the security forces fired on the republic-controlled villages of Prishib and Zholobok with 120-millimeter mortars prohibited by the Minsk agreements. The day before, the LPR and DPR stated that the situation on the line of contact had escalated — Kiev was ignoring all the agreements reached earlier. At the same time, Ukraine claims that they intend to solve the problem through political and diplomatic means.Antonov accused the United States of being cynical about the Russian genocide in Donbas De-escalation is being discussed at a meeting of the contact group in the Belarusian capital, based on the Minsk agreements. The document provides for a constitutional reform, a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities have now concentrated most of the army on the border with the DPR and LPR and are regularly shelling the militias, including with the use of prohibited equipment. Moscow has repeatedly urged to stop pumping weapons into the region, as this could provoke Kiev into military adventures.