As of: 02/17/2022 7:38 p.m
There are reports from eastern Ukraine of numerous violations of the ceasefire, and a kindergarten was apparently hit by shells. Separatists and army blame each other.
It is disturbing news from eastern Ukraine that is being reported: since Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Defense has reported more than 40 violations of the current ceasefire. In total, several civilians and one Ukrainian soldier were injured. Pro-Russian separatists fired at villages.
The town of Stanitsa Luhanska in the Luhansk region was also hit by heavy artillery. Shells hit a kindergarten. As a result of the impact, two kindergarten employees were slightly injured. “There were 20 children with us, boys and girls,” said a pale employee on the Ukrainian television channel 1+1. “You are frightened.”
The shelling damaged civilian infrastructure such as a gas pipeline. The supply was interrupted in around 70 apartments in high-rise buildings and almost 100 detached houses. A local Ukrainian soldier commented on the incident on TV station 1+1:
We cannot speak of a large-scale attack because the shelling and weapons used are insufficient to be considered the start of an enemy offensive. The shelling has the character of a provocation.
Impact in the school yard
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the village of Vrubivka in the Luhansk region was also shelled. One of the grenades hit the schoolyard of a high school, which at the time had 30 students and more than ten employees.
According to the Ukrainian army, pro-Russian separatists from the occupied territories also opened fire on other villages. High-voltage lines, station buildings and a locomotive depot were hit.
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The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv said Stanitsa Luhanska and Vrubivka were fired on with weapons prohibited under the Minsk agreements. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on all partners to condemn Russia’s serious violation of the Minsk agreements in the already tense security situation:
The most important thing today is to record for the whole world that these shells were fired from the temporarily conquered territories of Ukraine, now controlled by Russia. Because Russian propaganda tries to create different realities and blame Ukraine for these shelling. But we are sure that they will not succeed.
Continued dispute over Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged diplomats and OSCE officials to remain in the region and briefed the EU on the security situation. Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics blamed the Ukrainian army for the shelling.
The leadership in Kiev is preparing a military solution to the Donbass issue and has shelled settlements with mortars and grenade launchers, including on the outskirts of Donzek and near Luhansk.
“The situation at the contact line quickly deteriorated,” said Oleg Niktin from the separatists in Donzek in a Telegram channel. “The enemy is attempting to launch active hostilities. The Ukrainian side continues to violate ceasefire obligations.”
Meanwhile, the dispute over Russian troop movements around Ukraine continues. Ukraine and Western partners rate the withdrawal of Russian soldiers to their bases as unconvincing. The Kremlin, on the other hand, said a withdrawal would take time. In the afternoon it became known that Moscow wants to expel the US Deputy Ambassador from Russia, according to Washington for formal reasons.
Disturbing News – Shelling in Eastern Ukraine
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