Rapid Response

As at 5th of March the situation in the front is far from the truce agreed in Minsk.

Over the past 24 hours the Russian occupational troops have violated the ceasefire for 7 times shelling the Ukrainian military positions. Yesterday none of the Ukraine’s defenders suffered. Unfortunately, on Saturday there was in information about casualties: one Ukrainian soldier was killed in an enemy fire near Avdiivka, and another two fighters got injured.

In Luhansk direction, the enemy shelled Luhanske using 120 mm mortars. The enemy used 82 mm mortars, automatic grenade launchers, and anti-air mount near Shchastia.

In Donetsk sector, the occupiers ravaged in the Azov region. Militants fired 120 mm mortars on ATO positions near Pavlopil and Shyrokyne. The enemy also used tank armament, BMP, heavy machineguns and small arms near Shyrokyne. Militants shelled the ATO positions near Mariinka with 120 mm mortars in attempt to hit the Ukrainian military footholds. There have been recorded seven mine blasts there.

Militants have violated the Minsk agreements. According to the arrangement signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on the 2nd of March, complete ceasefire had to start from the 5th of March. In accordance with the same agreement, today the partied had to separate the forces and armaments near Stanytsia Luhanska. Unfortunately, this did not happen as the Russian mercenaries violated the ceasefire during the very first hour of the truce.

Apart from the unwillingness to stop fire, the occupiers can resort to provocations to shift the responsibility for shelling onto the Ukrainian army. According to the information of the Ukrainian reconnaissance, shortly the Russian mercenaries plan to shell territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions including their residential areas and civilians. The enemy has been repetitively applying this dishonest trick: first they shell Ukrainian positions, and the next step is shelling of peaceful cities and towns located within temporarily occupied territories, aimed to imitate “the AFU response”. There is also information about the arrival of “Russia-24” TV channel’s journalists – these are well-known fake news craftsmen engaged in filming and production of bogus stories “evidential of the Ukrainian Army’s crimes”.

“The so-called Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic are the entities created by Russia to help disguise Russia’s role and strengthen the conflict, and they must be eliminated because they do not meet the Constitution of Ukraine,” – Special Representative of the US State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker said during a panel discussion at the analytical center of the Hudson Institute.