REUTERS

According to the report, the militants have violated the ceasefire six times in the last day, with the militants firing 120mm mortars on the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces in four incidents.

"In Donetsk region, the militants fired on the positions of the Ukrainian army near the town of Avdiivka, and in the villages of Pisky, Opytne and Krasnohorivka," the report says.

"Russian-backed militants fired 120mm mortars three times and anti-aircraft gun one time at our fortified positions near Avdiivka."

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According to the report, the militants also fired 120mm mortars on the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces near the village of Pisky.

In addition, a sniper fired at a fortified positon of the Ukrainian army near the village of Opytne, and the militants fired guns near the town of Krasnohorivka of Mariynskiy district.

"There was quiet in the area of Luhansk during this period. There was no shelling of residential areas," the report reads.

"At the same time, the Ukrainian army recorded six reconnaissance overflights by enemy drones in the south of Donetsk near the villages of Talakivka, Shyrokino, Orlovske and Volodarske," the headquarters said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande held talks in Minsk on February 12 and agreed on a ceasefire to be effective from 0001, February 15, as well as the withdrawal of all heavy weapons. The agreements also provide for the release and exchange of all prisoners of war and civil hostages.

But the ceasefire has never fully come into force, and the militants have continued to attack the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces throughout the territory of Donbas, Ukraine's military says.

Most of the violations have been recorded in strategic areas in the north-eastern outskirts of Donetsk, near the airport, and in the village of Shyrokino, a key area Ukraine must hold to block a militant offensive on Mariupol.

The militants have said several times they intend to capture the city of Mariupol, and expand the area they control to include the whole of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.