Donetsk, Sep 10 - DAN. Ukrainian forces opened fire in the Shumy settlement area outside Gorlovka to prevent the joint inspection of Ukrainian army positions by the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination and the OSCE, the Donetsk People’s Republic People’s Militia said on Thursday.
“Having realised that the lie about Ukrainian army’s having no new positions next to the Shumy settlement would be exposed, the Ukrainian command attempted to stop the observers by threatening their life and health,” the DPR People’s Militia said.
35th Brigade gunmen opened fire from a wooded area near the place where the observers had gathered, and launched several unmanned aerial vehicles.
“The OSCE monitors had to leave the above area as specified by the Mission’s mandate in case of danger to their life and health. Predictably, Ukraine accused the DPR militia of opening fire. We demand that international observers record the facts of fire provocations and give real assessment of actions by Ukrainian occupants,” the DPR People’s Militia said.
The DPR authorities planned an operation to eliminate Ukrainian army fortifications outside Gorlovka on September 9. Donetsk repeatedly said that the People’s Militia had to resort to such measures because Kiev refused to acknowledge its violations of additional ceasefire control measures. The Contact Group decided its extraordinary videoconference on September 9 to carry out a joint inspection with the view of remedying the violations. Following this decision, the DPR revoked the order to destroy the fortifications, but Ukraine derailed the planned inspection.
The demands to Kiev that the violations be remedied were first issued in Donetsk on August 28. During the operation of additional ceasefire control measures, Ukrainian servicemen installed new fortifications advancing them towards the Seversky Donets-Donbass water duct arc, a key water supply line in the region) with the view of gaining a foothold there.
The package of tighter ceasefire control measures came into force in Donbass on July 27, 2020. The document bans the use of any weapons, deployment of hardware, special operations, engineer works and flights of unmanned aerial vehicles.*jk