MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Kyiv is deliberately fanning tensions in Donbas ahead of the presidential election, and the crisis is on the verge of hostilities in the region, Russian Special Presidential Envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Ukraine Boris Gryzlov told reporters.
"Kyiv is voicing new threats against Donbas. The Kyiv authorities are additionally and intentionally complicating the situation ahead of the election, so, the situation in Donbas is on the brink of new large-scale hostilities," he said.
The latest Minsk meeting took place amid new ceasefire violations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he said. "The situation is deteriorating, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces are bringing more heavy weaponry to the contact line. The OSCE Joint Monitoring Mission (SMM) confirms that shell attacks have drastically intensified," Gryzlov said.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have fired over 100 rounds of munitions over the first half of Tuesday, February 26, alone, killing a man, who was involved in repairing efforts of the residential infrastructure, in the populated locality of Komynternove, he said.
"Representatives of the so-called volunteer battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have again appeared on the contact line. The experience shows that this is due to them that the number of ceasefire violations has increased," the Russian TCG special envoy said.