Donetsk, Jul 11 - DAN. Kiev army’s criminal actions which have stepped up in Donbass since Vladimir Zelensky won the presidential election in Ukraine, must be stopped, Donetsk People’s Republic Head Denis Pushilin stated on Thursday.
“Despite the withdrawal of armaments in Stanitsa Luganskaya and Zelensky’s statements about stabilisation of the situation in the area, massive shelling of residential areas and civil infrastructure is ongoing in other districts, practically along the entire contact line,” Pushilin said. “In certain areaы, the situation has become critical.”
As an example, he said that the Krasnoarmeiskoye village in southern DPR was on the brink of total destruction due to unceasing shelling. Over the past few days, Ukrainian servicemen have fired 71 152mm artillery rounds at the settlement. Thirty houses, a school and a electrical substation were damaged. Overall, 278 houses and 64 infrastructure facilities including three kindergartens, three schools and two hospitals have been damaged or fully ruined since Zelensky’s inauguration.
Pushilin said that since the new Ukrainian president took office, 22 civilians, including three children and nine women have been wounded in shelling by Ukrainian armed formations. On Thursday, an elderly woman was fatally wounded as Kiev army units shelled the Gorlmovskiy neighbourhood in the outskirts of Gorlovka.
“It is the first fatality on the record and conscience of the new Ukrainian president who came to power with the slogan calling for stopping the Donbass war. The statistics are at odds with the peaceful rhetoric of Ukraine’s supreme commander-in-chief," the DPR leader said.
Kiev army’s actions are obvious crimes against humanity in violation of the Minsk Agreements and all norms of international law, he added.
“We call upon all countries, the guarantors of the Minsk Agreements, whom Zelensky assures of his commitment to peace in Donbass, to compel Ukraine to stop the shelling of DPR and LPR settlements. The criminal actions by Ukrainian armed formations must be stopped,” Pushilin said.
On Thursday alone, Kiev forces fired more than 100 mortar and artillery rounds at the DPR territory. A civilian was killed in Gorlovka shelling, and multiple damage to residential areas and infrastructure was recorded.*jk