Donetsk, Jan 15 - DAN. Regular delays in Ukrainian army units rotations on the contact line in Donbass began to provoke conflicts between commanders and privates, Donetsk People’s Republic People’s Militia spokesman Daniil Bezsonov said on Tuesday.

“We observe falling morale in Ukrainian formations deployed in the operations zone,” Bezsonov said. “It happens due to frequent postponement of rotations caused by a lack of combat ready units.”

"There’s been an increase in rows between privates and junior commanders on the frontline,” he said.

As an example, the spokesman referred to the January 14 incident at a 128th Mountain Infantry Brigade unit where servicemen complained over their expired contacts and manpower shortages. Verbal sparring escalated to a brawl in which the company commander pulled out his gun and fired a shot.

Private First Class Sladovskiy was hospitalised to a local hospital with a gunshot wound. The other protesters were taken into custody.*jk