REUTERS

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported damage to four civilian properties in the Donetsk city's Petrovskyi district.

"On 23 December, the SMM saw fresh damage to four civilian properties in the Trudivski area of Donetsk city’s Petrovskyi district (non-government-controlled, 15km south-west of Donetsk city centre), all assessed as caused by 23mm or 30mm rounds," reads the SMM's daily spot report.

Four civilians (men and women, aged 50-70) residing in affected apartment buildings told the Mission that their buildings had been damaged on the evening of December 20.

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The Ukrainian side to the Joint Ceasefire Control and Coordination Center notes that Russian proxy forces have repeatedly attempted to blame Ukrainian troops for the shooting in civilian areas while continuing to be the actual source of this threatening fire.

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“Neither the distance, nor the elevation profile of the terrain, nor the technical characteristics of such weapons would allow units of the Joint Forces to fire at civilian properties in the Petrovskyi district of Donetsk that were damaged,” the JCCC monitors say.

The report emphasizes that this fact once again testifies to the targeted actions of the occupation administration and Russia's armed formations toward further aggravation of the conflict, their unwillingness to observe ceasefire, and deliberate failure to fulfill Minsk agreements.