Donetsk, Dec 30 – DAN. Kiev forces units violated ceasefire 143 thousand times in 2016, said DPR Operations Command deputy commander Colonel Eduard Basurin.
"In the period from January to December 2016 the number of violations amounted to 143,613 times, including 78,223 cases of using heavy weapons. The overall weight of rounds that have hit DPR territory is two thousand tons."
Basurin said that the situation along the contact line remained tense throughout the year.
"The OSCE SMM monitors registered Ukrainian heavy weapons missing from the permanent storage sites that testifies about its usage against civilians in Donbass," Colonel said.
Currently there is a silence regime in effect in Donbass, that has been agreed to at the latest Contact Group talks in Minsk. The ceasefire was enforced on December 24, still the Ukrainian side keeps shelling DPR. *ot