Ukrainian Army Responds to Attempt to Separate Forces in Donbass with New Shelling

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Another attempt to separate the forces near the village of Luhansk has been rendered abortive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which opened heavy fire on positions of the People’s Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR).

On October 19, the Ukrainian Armed Forces rendered abortive another attempt to separate the forces near the village of Luhansk and opened heavy fire on positions of the People’s Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the area, the Luhansk Information Center reported.

“An attempt of the withdrawal was made at 13:00 pm [local time], and already at 20:20 pm the firing has been started. Such actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces look like a mockery of peace initiatives of the LPR,” Nikolai Kuzmin, head of a checkpoint of the LPR People’s Militia, located near Luhansk village, said.

Kuzmin explained that instead of separation of the forces, recently, the 14th separate mechanized brigade, which is permanently stationed in Vladimir-Volynskiy, was sent in the village of Luhansk.

“They call themselves an assault division. Tankmen of their unit took the first place in a competition of tankmen in Ukraine,” he added. “Having come here, they have begun to position themselves as stormtroopers, and they already threaten to take Luhansk.”

Kuzmin also said that Ukrainian soldiers have carried out four ‘waves of firing’ for the past night. According to him, during the first two ‘waves’, the Ukrainian Forces used the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle, located in front of the LPR fighters in 350 meters. As Kuzmin noted, during a 40-minute battle, the vehicle has fired all its ammunition – 500 shells, on the Gora checkpoint.

“You can imagine intensity of the shelling. There were at least 5-7 shots from a light anti-tank weapon in each wave,” Kuzmin added.

He also pointed out that consequences of the shelling were recorded by representatives of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

Meanwhile, spokesman for the LPR People’s Militia, Major Andrey Marochko, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have sent the Grad multiple rocket launchers, armored vehicles, and vehicles, loaded with ammunition and pontoons, to the area of the village of Luhansk.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to violate the terms of deployment of heavy weapons along the contact line, provided by the Minsk agreement,” Marochko said at a briefing in the Luhansk Information Center.

He noted that a convoy of military equipment, including seven BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers, five infantry combat vehicles and ten vehicles, loaded with ammunition, has arrived to the area of the Malinovskiy forest district in Stanichno-Luhansk region.

“We also have the confirmed information that on October 18, four trucks with pontoons arrived to the settlement of Makarovo in Stanichno-Luhansk region. This military equipment came from the settlement of Novoaydar,” Marochko added.

According to the representative of the LPR Defense Ministry, these facts are another confirmation that the Ukrainian side ignores the agreements made by the Contact Group in Minsk, as well as does not want to peacefully resolve the situation in Donbass.

At the same time Marochko noted that the LPR is ready to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and strictly observe the Minsk agreement, but in the event of its disruption by the Ukrainian side, the republic is always ready to act decisively.