On January 24, the official representative of the DPR People’s Militia, Colonel Eduard Basurin, made a statement on the use of prohibited ammunition by the AFU and the aggravation of the situation along the entire line of combat contact in the Republic.
“Since January 21, we have registered aggravation of the situation along the entire line of combat contact, the enemy has intensified firing with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk Agreements.
On January 21, despite the meeting of the Contact Group and the presence of OSCE SMM Chairperson Anne Linde in the Joint Forces Operation’s zone, militants from the 3rd mechanized battalion of the 28th AFU brigade used 120mm mortars, firing three shells, 15 AGS grenades and three SPG grenades in the area of Staromikhailovka, 20 shots from BMP-2 were registered. Three residential buildings were damaged as a result of the shelling.
On January 22, mortars and grenade launchers were used from positions of the 36th AFU brigade against the areas of Zaichenko, Oktyabr, Bezymyannoye and Sakhanka, a total of 17 shells and over 25 grenades of various types were fired.
As a result of the enemy shelling, two of our defenders were wounded, one of whom died.
On January 23, from positions of the 3rd mechanized battalion of the 28th AFU separate motorized infantry brigade near Krasnogorovka, militants using a combat UAV dropped an improvised explosive device on positions of the People’s Militia near Staromikhailovka. As a result, a defender of the Republic was killed.
Also noteworthy is the fact that commander-in-chief of the AFU Khomchak and acting commander of the Joint Forces Operation Ganushchak were in the zone of the punitive operation during this period, so these firing provocations, of course, could not take place without their knowledge or even direct instructions.
We call on the Ukrainian military commanders to stop violating the ceasefire regime and to take control of the subordinate commanders in the Joint Forces Operation’s zone and investigate each fact of crime, in case the provocative actions against our Republic continue, we will be forced to give an adequate response.
We call on OSCE SMM Chairperson Anne Linde to visit the Donetsk People’s Republic for an objective assessment of Ukraine’s “compliance” with the ceasefire and to exert pressure on the military and political leadership to implement the Minsk Agreements by demanding in writing from the Ukrainian side to conduct detailed investigations into the fact of fire opening,” Eduard Basurin said.
