Blame Ukrainian Forces Launch Heavy Weapons Attack, Pro-Russian Rebels: Violation Of Ceasefire

Illustration of pro-Russian rebels on standby with anti-tank guns. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine accused government forces on Thursday of opening fire on their territory four times in the past 24 hours, saying they were trying to determine if anyone had been injured or killed.

It was not immediately clear how serious the incident was and there was no immediate reaction from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has been monitoring the situation in eastern Ukraine but has withdrawn some of its monitors in recent days.

The statement about the shooting was made in a statement issued by representatives of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic. It said Ukrainian forces had used mortars, grenade launchers, and machine guns in four separate incidents on Thursday.

"Ukrainian armed forces have grossly violated the ceasefire, using heavy weapons, which according to the Minsk Agreement, must be withdrawn," the separatists said in a statement, citing Reuters February 17.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has denied separatist accusations that government forces had attacked, saying it was rebels who opened fire on the Ukrainian military.

Such incidents have occurred many times over the past eight years, but these clashes came after Russia amassed more than 100.000 troops near the Ukrainian border, while demanding that NATO pledge not to accept Ukraine as a member.

It is known, Western countries have threatened Russia with new sanctions, if the Red Bear Country attacks Ukraine. Russia has responded to the accusations by denying planning any attacks.

Any escalation in the years-long conflict between Russia-backed separatists, who seized swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine in 2014, could stoke tensions between Russia and the West.

US intelligence agencies said this month that they believed Russia might be making a pretext for an invasion of Ukraine, possibly by producing a video showing a staged attack. Russia brushed it off.

Meanwhile, Russia said this week it was pulling back some troops from areas adjacent to Ukraine after the exercises ended but Kyiv said it saw no evidence of that and the United States said it suspected Moscow had in fact increased its presence by as much as 7.000 troops.