DPR Announces about Threat of Resumption of ‘Full’ Shooting War

The situation in the conflict zone in the east of Ukraine may “break out” at any moment and escalate into full-fledged clashes, the representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin said.

The situation in the conflict zone in the east of Ukraine may “break out” at any moment and escalate into full-fledged clashes, the representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, told the Izvestia newspaper. A day before, the UN has stated that the situation is worsening.

“The situation is exacerbated by the day. There is no motion after the regular negotiations on a political settlement. The situation remains tense, and at any moment it can break out and escalate into full-fledged clashes,” Pushilin said. According to him, Ukraine does not meet its commitments in the military and the political spheres.

“Over the past five or six days, the situation worsened as much as possible. If Ukraine does not comply with the first three terms of the ‘Minsk-2’ agreements, open clashes will resume in Donbass very soon,” the DPR representative concluded.

Over the past three months, shelling in the conflict zone became more frequent. Kiev and the DPR entrust the responsibility for the shelling on each other. The both sides of the conflict accuse each other of refusing to comply with the Minsk agreements.

On Thursday, the press center of the headquarters of the Military Operation of the Ukrainian army said that rebels have fired at the military positions 38 times. “At two o’clock in the morning the enemy resumed the shelling of residential areas of the inhabited localities near Donetsk,” the Interfax news agency quoted the statement. According to the Chief of the Donetsk Regional National Police Office, Vyacheslav Abroskin, power lines in Avdiyivka were damaged, as a result of the shelling by rebels. The DPR Defense Ministry denied this information.

“This is another provocation. We have repeatedly said that we comply with the Minsk agreement,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed representative of DPR.

DPR representatives blamed Ukrainian military for the shelling of the area of Donetsk filter plant, where power lines were damaged. A day before, the Donetsk news agency reported that the Ukrainian forces shelled suburbs of the city of Yasinovataya, using heavy weapons.

The first three terms of the Minsk agreements, adopted in February 2015, imply complete cease-fire in the Donbass, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line by the both sides of the conflict, and ensuring of conditions for monitoring and verification of the ceasefire and the withdrawal of weapons for the OSCE.

A day before, an aggravation of the situation in Donbass for the past two months has been noted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to the UN, in July, the number of civilian casualties in the conflict zone continued to grow. As the press release stated, 73 civilians were killed and wounded in Donbass in July, which is twice more than in the period from September 2015 till May 2016.