"Demonstrative provocative actions of militants caused deep indignation, as they continue to escalate tension across the contact line in the east of Ukraine. They increased their attacks not only on the positions of the Armed Forces, but also on the civilian areas. And all of this is happening against the background of a ceasefire and peace negotiations in Minsk," said major-general Borys Kremenetskiy, Ukraine’s chief representative to the Joint Center for coordination and control of the ceasefire, at a meeting with representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, according to the Facebook page of the ATO press center.
According to the report, the total number of attacks by illegal armed groups on August 26 has increased by 10%; 90 cases of ceasefire violations were reported.
"Heavy weaponry was used 29 times: 152 mm artillery - seven times, 122 mm artillery – seven, 120 mm mortars – 14, MLRS - once. The tanks were used five times. The Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered considerable losses - 7 dead and 13 wounded as a result of shelling," said the statement.
Read alsoSeven Ukrainian soldiers killed, 13 wounded in Donbas in last dayIt is noted that, despite Ukraine’s commitment to contribute to the reduction of tension and moving an armed conflict exclusively into the framework of the negotiation process, "obviously, terrorists and those who sponsor them are not interested in this."
"Their main goal is to sow panic and chaos among the civilians in Ukraine, discredit the Armed Forces and the Government of Ukraine. How else can one explain the continuing attacks on Avdiyivka, Krasnohorivka, Maryinka and other settlements? Militants continue to cynically and methodically burn to the ground entire neighborhoods and destroy the infrastructure of cities and towns. It is hard to imagine anything more inhumane," reads the statement.
In addition, according to JCCC, militants carry out provocations by shelling residential areas under their own control in order to put blame on the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The JCCC emphasized that these and other documented evidence of war crimes committed by terrorists, recorded coordinates of artillery positions of the militants, from which they fired on controlled territories, coordinates of MLRS, information on the areas where armored vehicles and troops amassed were forwarded to OSCE SMM for further checks and informing 57 OSCE member states.
