Mortar shelling of Donetsk, 20th of January, 2019

«Compliance with the cease-fire by the defenders of the republic is the guarantee of a prevention of large-scale provocations from the Ukrainian troops» — says an officer of the people’s militia of the DPR, callsign — «Bullet». He specifies that all his troopers do follow the agreements. However, for his enemies, the truce is just a formality. The shelling continues day and night near the village of Yasinovataya. A filming crew of the people’s militia of the DPR personally witnessed such provocations. Right in front of their eyes, the Ukrainian troops opened fire from large-caliber machine guns. Even though just a moment ago there was silence.

2 On the evening of 17th of January, the Ukrainian army opened mortar fire on the northern outskirts of the DPR capital. This was announced by the head of the press service of the People’s Militia Department — Daniel Bezsonov. “As a result of the aimed shelling — a residential building caught fire” — the report says. It was noted that the Ukrainian troops used four 82mm mortar shells on the village. Small arms were also used during the shelling.

3 The DPR urged the Mission of the OSCE to take all measures needed to force Kiev to abandon their terrorist methods of warfare. On the evening of 13th of January, soldiers of the 128th brigade of the Ukrainian army shelled the village of Dokuchaevsk. As a result — an apartment building was damaged — said Daniel Bezsonov. «Luckily, none of the civilians were injured» — he noted. Daniil Bezsonov underlined that lately direct acts of aggression, coming from the Ukrainian troops, became more common in Donbass.

4 162 people, including 5 children, died in the DPR from the aggression of the Ukrainian army in 2018. This was stated by the Ombudsman of the DPR — Daria Morozova. Since the beginning of 2019 — the actions of Kiev led to injuries on four people in the DPR. “Among the wounded there is one defender of the Republic, and three employees of the »Water of Donbass» Company — they came under fire from the Ukrainian armed forces” — said Darya Morozova. The report of the Human Rights Ombudsman in the DPR also provided the total data on the dead and injured people. During the conflict on the territory of the Republic — 4729 people were killed, including 81 children.

5 Over the past week, more than 50 Ukrainian soldiers left their places of service in the “joint force operation” zone — said the official representative of the People’s Militia of the LPR — Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko. «Due to the increasing number of desertions — Military Policemen were noticed among the units of the armed forces of Ukraine, in the area of the village of Loskutovka, in the area of responsibility of the 54th brigade».