REUTERS

In particular, the villages of Pisky, which is near the ruined Donetsk airport, the villages of Novhorodske and Verkhniotoretske and the town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk region, as well as areas near the village of Troyitske in Luhansk region were under sniper fire.

What is more, militants deployed near the village of Troyitske opened fire from a Grad multiple rocket launcher three times.

The ATO HQ also reported about more than 20 cases when Russian-backed militants used small arms, grenade launchers and large-caliber machine-guns.

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Mercenaries opened unaimed fire to shell Ukrainian troops near Pisky, and the villages of Opytne, Zaitseve, Mayorsk, Luhanske and Myronivsky, provoking them into firing back.

"The combined Russian-separatist forces have still been violating the truce in the ATO zone after recent agreements in Minsk on a full ceasefire and continue mounting armed provocations against our defenders," the HQ said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the conflict in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, which consists of representatives of Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE, agreed on a full ceasefire along the contact line from 00:00 on December 23, 2015, according to Darka Olifer, the press secretary of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who represents Ukraine in the Contact Group.