KYIV/DONETSK. June 30 (Interfax) - The Donbas militia has shelled Ukrainian army positions and infrastructures of populated localities 360 times in the past four days, army operation staff spokesman Anton Myronovych has said.
"Most truce violations were observed when our country was celebrating Constitution Day," Myronovych said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
In his words, the militia were mostly using mortars, including 120mm weapons outlawed by the Minsk agreements.
"Their increased use of tanks has been observed lately; they are shelling our positions and noncombatant cities," Myronovych said.
"The enemy keeps enlarging its gangs, rotating personnel and individual units and stealthily moving military hardware closer to the contact line. Populated areas near occupied Donetsk remain the epicenter of tensions," the army operation staff spokesman has said.
He claimed the ongoing delivery of ammunition to the militia from Russian territory. Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly declared the absence of Russian armaments in Donbas.
At the same time, according to Myronovych, the forces involved in the army operation in eastern Ukraine were almost done strengthening their combat readiness and capacities.
"There is no need to panic, ATO forces have practically completed their preparations and measures aimed at building up their combat readiness and capacity. We are in full control of the situation in every ATO sector. Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other law enforcement agencies involved in the ATO are permanently prepared to act in any scenario," he said.
The staff spokesman claimed that Ukrainian weapons banned by the Minsk agreements had been moved to the required distances from the contact line.
"ATO forces are taking every necessary measure to build up their defenses," he said.
In turn, the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said that the Ukrainian army had shelled its positions twelve times in the past 24 hours.
"The intensity of Ukrainian attacks stood at twelve violations of the ceasefire regime in the past day. The enemy has again applied artillery weapons," the Donetsk news agency has quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.
It noted that over 70 mines, ten artillery rounds and 51 tank shells were fired on the territory controlled by the militia. The enemy was also using grenade launchers and small arms.
The cities of Donetsk, Horlivka and Dokuchayevsk came under fire, alongside the towns of Spartak, Sakhanka and Bela Kamyanka.
The Horlivka administration said earlier that a local resident had been killed in shelling.