Pro-Russian Ukrainian Rebels Repeatedly Claim "Government Forces Shelling"

On the 17th (local time), the wall of a kindergarten building in a village in Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine, bordering Russia, was pierced by shelling, with brick debris scattered on the floor. Ukrainian military authorities stated that the Russia-backed separatists fired first and that there were no casualties.

Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine claimed on the 18th (local time) through Russian state media that "government forces shelled the eastern Donbas region (Donetsk and Luhansk provinces) again following the previous day."

According to Russia's TASS news agency, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) delegation, dispatched to the 'Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of Ceasefire and Stabilization of the Line of Contact' (JCCC), asserted that "from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the 18th, five villages were attacked by government forces."

They added, "During this time, a total of 68 shells were fired, involving heavy weapons such as 122mm and 120mm caliber artillery."

The DPR delegation also claimed, as reported by Russian state Sputnik news agency, that government forces fired 93 mortar rounds in Donetsk province the previous day.

The self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) delegation, also dispatched to the JCCC, claimed that government forces launched three attacks from 7:35 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. on the same day and fired a total of 29 rounds in the past 24 hours. They further stated to Russian state Sputnik news agency that government forces violated the ceasefire agreement eight times on the 18th.

The Ukrainian military has denied these attack claims made by the two republics.

Russia's RIA Novosti reported that Ukrainian forces carried out mortar and grenade attacks in eastern Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, but Ukraine immediately denied this.

Since all reports related to attacks by government forces and separatists come from pro-Russian separatist sources via Russian media, it is impossible to definitively assign responsibility for the preemptive attacks.

However, it is confirmed that clashes and shelling did occur, resulting in damage.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission, which oversees the ceasefire situation in the Donbas region, reported that approximately 530 explosions occurred along the frontline between government forces and pro-Russian separatists from the evening of the 17th until the afternoon of the 18th.

Government forces and separatists signed the Minsk peace agreement, a ceasefire accord, at the 'Normandy Format Summit' (involving Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany) held in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in 2015, but it has not been properly implemented.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.