Over the past week the situation in the Donetsk People Republic sharply deteriorated.

    

Over the past day the Ukrainian military violated the ceasefire sixty-seven times and shelled the territory of the Republic two hundred ninety-four times. The Ukrainian Nazi ten times used tanks in the direction of Yasinovataya, launched forty120mm mortar shells to the territory of Lozovoye, thirty-four 120mm mortar shells to the territory of Nikolaevka and twenty-eight mortar shells of the same caliber to the territory of Staromikhailovka. Altogether in the shellings the enemy used tanksfifteen times, 120mm mortars a hundred and twenty times, 82mm mortars a hundred and five times. The enemy also used infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of different types, anti-aircraft systems and small arms.

Over the week the Ukrainian side shelled the territory of the Republic two thousand and nine times, including nine hundred eighty-two times from heavy weapons.

The most intense shellings, including from heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements, were applied to such localities as Zaytsevo, Spartak, Staromikhailovka,Zhabunky, Dokuchaevsk, Vesyoloye, the Gagarin mine, Kominternovo, Alexandrovka,Yasinovataya, Lozovoye, Sakhanka, Bezymennoye, Sosnovskoye, Nikolaevka, the area of the airport, the Volvo Centre, the Petrovsky and Kuybyshevsky districts of the Donetsk city.

As a result of the shellings by the AFU one DPR soldier and two civilians were wounded, eight residential houses were destroyed and a water tower in Nikolaevka was damaged. In Zaytsevo a residential house burnt down due to the direct hit of a Ukrainian shell.

The violation of the Minsk agreement by the AFU has become systematic; however, for these violations no sanctions or criminal proceedings for war crimes are declared and no one bears responsibility for the deaths and injuries of people.

The situation in the Gorlovka direction, in the area of the road Donetsk-Gorlovkatended to deteriorate over the past week and remains critical. The AFU units repeatedly attempted to seize this area. The result is well-known. However, to justify themselves, the Ukrainian political and military authorities tried, using the mass media, to present themselves from the positive side and show the public their fake victories. I would like to note that it is not the first time when they are using the same method to justify themselves.

The DPR Armed Forces will continue to defend the land of Donbass; we are not going to turn the other cheek to them.

The OSCE observers have repeatedly noted in their reports the absence of the Ukrainian weapons and military equipment in the sites of their storage; moreover, during their inspections the observers found some of those sites empty. Ukraine is boldly delivering this equipment into the buffer zone, closer to the contact line.

Neither the OSCE mission nor the Ukrainian representatives of the JCCC have made any efforts to stabilise the situation. Ukraine is still seeking to exercise its nationalistic plan for the genocide of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure of the young Republic.

Ukraine’s statements on shellings of its territory follow no logic and have no proof.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that all violations of the Minsk Agreements by the Ukrainian side take place against the background of meetings of foreign ministers of the Norman Format countries and contact groups to resolve the conflict in Donbass. Our joint efforts to re-establish peace in Donbass come to nothing due to activities of Ukraine which is acting behind the scenes, under the patronage of its overseas curators.

Accusing the DPR of provocations, the Ukrainian political and military authorities are amassing prohibited weapons in the buffer zone, increasing the number of violations of the ceasefire and, somehow, get away with it. Perhaps, it’s time such a respected organisation as the OSCE mission paid attention to these facts and took steps to eliminate this criminal order.

    

The visit of the President of Ukraine and his meeting with the leader of the country have already brought some results. According to our sources, in the Mariupol direction there have already appeared units including citizens of Turkey. This fact speaks volumes. The President and other authorities of Ukraine are ready to do everything to stoke the fire of the conflict, to sacrifice not only the life of their soldiers and citizens, but also that of foreigners. The leading Ukrainian elite’s lack of ability to influence the situation in their army and organize control over the commanders of units forces them to seek foreign military help.

The Ukrainian authorities carry out a constant rotation of units along the contact line, which results in a temporary and, sometimes, permanent loss of control over units. The increase in hazing among the AFU soldiers can serve as one of examples of it. According to our data, only over the past two weeks the Kharkov military hospital received up to a hundred AFU soldiers, more than two-thirds of whom had injuries related to hazing among the military. Remarkably, these non-combat losses are presented as combat ones in order to hide the helplessness and feebleness of the Ukrainian military and political authorities and the command of the AFU units and formations.

Vice-Commander of the DPR Defense Ministry Corps Eduard Basurin, official translation by DONi News Agency