DONETSK. June 29 (Interfax) - Ukrainian government forces have shelled the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic (DPR) about 50 times over the past 24 hours.
"The intensity of the shelling by the Ukrainian side was 46 violations in 24 hours. The enemy once again used heavy weapons," the Donetsk news agency reported on Saturday with reference to the DPR defense ministry.
In particular, Ukrainian government forces shelled Donetsk (the Kyivsky district and the airport area), Horlivka, Yasynuvata, Mykolayivka, Shyrokyne, Oleksandrivka, Bila Kamyanka, Krasny Partyzan, Spartak, Lozove, Vasylivka, Troyitske, and Mykhailivka.
"Information on casualties among the civilians and the militia has yet to be verified," it said.
Eduard Basurin of the DPR defense ministry accused the 55th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces of heavily shelling the village of Spartak located near the Donetsk airport. "The heaviest artillery shelling was concentrated on the community of Spartak from the positions of the 55th Independent Artillery Brigade commanded by Col. Serhiy Brusov," Basurin said.
He also added that the DPR intelligence service detected the transfer of Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers toward the town of Kurakhove west of Donetsk.
"The DPR armed forces' intelligence service is continuing to detect facts of movements of the Ukrainian armed forces' military hardware and personnel. For instance, we recorded the movement of a column of BM21 Grad and Uragan multiple rocket launchers from Zaporizhzhya toward Kurakhove and two self-propelled artillery guns, presumably 2S1 Gvozdika, from Hrodivka toward Ocheretyne," he said.