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Ukraine military forces shell Donetsk airport, Luhansk

Sunday, 28 February 2016 10:34 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 28 February 2016 10:33 AM ]

A local resident examines his building, destroyed during shelling, in the small town of Avdiivka, Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, August 25, 2015. ©AFP

The Ukrainian army has shelled the airport in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in violation of a shaky truce in the eastern regions of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian army opened fire on the airport at about 10 p.m. The shelling stopped at 11 p.m." on Saturday, said a security source in the law enforcement agencies of the DPR.

Separately, the LPR sources reported that the Ukrainian army violated the truce seven times on Saturday. According to the sources, anti-tank and automatic grenade launchers, small arms and a large-caliber machine gun were used in the raids, but "there are no casualties or damage."

The Kiev government, for its turn, reported shelling attacks on army positions in eastern Ukraine, also known as Donbass.

The army press center claimed that its forces came under attack 40 times near the city of Krasnohorivka.

Army positions were attacked by small arms, large-caliber machine guns and various types of grenade launchers, the press center said.

Tanks of the Ukrainian army ride near the village of Crymske in the Luhansk region, October 5, 2015. ©AFP

Donetsk and Luhansk, the two mainly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine, have been hit by deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations in April 2014 to crush pro-Russia protests there.

During peace talks in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on February 11-12, 2015, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reached a deal, dubbed Minsk II, on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Ukraine’s front lines and a ceasefire, which officially went into effect on February 15. The two sides, however, have continued to engage in sporadic clashes.

According to the United Nations, over 9,000 people have lost their lives and some 20,000 have been injured in the conflict in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

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