Donetsk republic claims Kiev pulls in heavy weaponry as provocation

News | 16.02.2015 | 11:26

Kiev troops have pulled in heavy weaponry to the contact line with the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic in a move that militia consider a provocation to force them to violate the Minsk agreements, the DPR’s defense ministry spokesman said on Monday. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine have secretly pulled in heavy weaponry - Grads and Uragans - to the villages of Artemovsk and Luganskoye and others. Several groups of journalists are also based there," Eduard Basurin told reporters. The spokesman said Kiev troops are planning to open fire in the direction of the Donetsk republic to provoke militias into firing in response. Then journalists will "register response actions and say that we are violating the Minsk agreements," he said. As a result of Thursday’s meeting in Minsk, the participants of the Contact Group on the Ukrainian settlement signed a set of measures to implement the 13-point Minsk agreements. The document envisages the full ceasefire from midnight on February 15 and the withdrawal of all the heavy weaponry from the contact line no later than day two of the ceasefire to be completed within two weeks. TASS