DONETSK/KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has accused Ukrainian troops of shelling the area of the Donetsk water filtration plant with phosphorous bombs, while Ukrainian military officials said earlier that the enemy had fired a phosphorous mine in the direction of the village of Novoselivka.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire with phosphorous munitions at the area in the immediate vicinity of the Donetsk water filtration plan at 3:50 p.m. today," a DPR representative in the Joint Center of Coordination and Control of the ceasefire (JCCC) told reporters on Friday.
Over 13 phosphorous munitions, seven 82 mm mines, as well as 116 grenades from an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher have been fired thus far, the representative said.
"The shelling continues. Outbreaks of flames and smoke are being observed on sites where phosphorous munitions had landed. It is possible that it is a diversion by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to commit yet another act of sabotage in the territory of the Donetsk water filtration plant," The DPR representative said.
Meanwhile, on December 6, the press service for the headquarters of the Ukrainian special operation in Donbas has accused Donetsk militias of "failing to observe both the Minsk Agreements, as well as international ones" and firing a phosphorous mine in the direction of the village of Novoselivka.
"Recently they employed a phosphorous mine that they fired at Ukrainian defenders, which are holding the fort near Novoselivka, Donetsk region," the press center for the Ukrainian special operation said. The enemy's mine did not land in the dug-out, therefore no one was wounded, Ukrainian military officials said.
The DPR denied this, having said that there are no phosphorous munitions in the inventories of former Soviet republics' armies.
"The Ukrainian side's accusations of the use of phosphorous mines by the DPR Armed Forces near the populated locality of Novoselivka are absurd for several reasons: phosphorus is an ignition agent used in NATO armies. There were no phosphorous munitions in the Soviet Army and armies formed in former Soviet republics. Therefore, there are none in the inventory of the DPR Armed Forces," Eduard Basurin, a senior military official of the DPR, told reporters on December 6.
Therefore, "these accusations are nothing more than low-grade false stories from people who know nothing about artillery munitions while serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.
The DPR Armed Forces, unlike the Ukrainian ones, strictly adhere to the Minsk Agreements and do not employ weapons which should be withdrawn, Basurin said.