Despite the operation of the truce, during the past 24 hours, the number of attacks by the Ukrainian military increased significantly, their intensity increased, while mortars were used, which should be withdrawn from the line of contact.
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy from small arms fired on a civilian car carrying a duty shift of the Donetsk filtering station workers. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
In the Gorlovka direction, Ukrainian militants from the positions in the vicinity of Zhovanka settlement with the application of small arms, including large-caliber ones, conducted a random bombardment of Zaitsevo, covering thus the work of a sniper pair, as a result of which a serviceman of the DPR Armed Forces perished.
Sniper shooting of both civilians and DPR Armed Forces' servicemen is the cynical methods of war that the Ukrainian party uses to achieve its 'great' victories, but it does not cause anything other than disdain to the Ukrainian Armed Forces on part of Donbass residents.
In the Mariupol direction, areas of Leninskoye, Dzerzhinskoye and Sakhanka settlements were attacked, on which the enemy launched 33 mortar shells of 120 and 82-mm calibres, and various types of grenade launchers and small arms were also used.
In total for the past day, five violations of the ceasefire regime by Ukrainian occupants have been fixed.
In violation of the Minsk agreements, the enemy continues to concentrate heavy weapons in areas that are prohibited for this purpose. So, on the southern outskirts of the Ostrovskoe village, 15 kilometers from the contact line, there were noted three self-propelled artillery units from the howitzer self-propelled artillery battalion of the 30th separate mechanized brigade of the AFU.
There are more than a dozen of Ukrainian and foreign TV channels and information agencies' correspondents arriving in the zone of the so-called 'ATO' with a term of work near the contact line until March 19. In addition, today a Lithuanian delegation arrived to the headquarters of the 'ATO', which included staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and journalists from Lithuania.
The increase in the number of armistice violations, as well as the enhanced activity of snipers near the line of contact, is provocative. The purpose of these actions is to force our Armed Forces to reprisal fire and, through controlled and cooperative media, present these facts to the world community as "evidence" that the Donetsk People's Republic allegedly violates its obligations in unilateral order.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian party to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the ceasefire, instead of fulfilling its direct duties, is engaged in covering the war crimes of Ukrainian fighters. So, instead of taking measures to prevent more frequent shooting of civilian objects by Ukrainian occupants, the JCCC leadership tried to shift the responsibility for the committed war crime to the DPR Armed Forces.
Our units fully comply with the order to observe the ceasefire and do not succumb to provocations of the enemy.
Official translation by DONi News Agency
Head of the DPR Armed Forces' Press Service,captain Daniil Bezsonov