“Today's reports of a military escalation near Zolotoy with the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, leading to victims, are extremely alarming,” the Interfax report says.
The EU emphasized that the shelling of settlements on February 18 violates the agreed ceasefire, and urged the parties to return to full compliance with the Minsk agreements.
Earlier, in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), Ukrainian security forces fired on civilian infrastructure in Kirovsk and the village of Donetsk. Later, in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), they also reported shelling by the Armed Forces in the north of Gorlovka.
In the Ukrainian headquarters, the operations of the combined forces, in turn, accused the militias of attacking their positions near the settlements of Novotoshkovskoye, Orekhovo, Krymskoye, and the Volny farm.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that as a result of the incident, the Ukrainian army suffered losses.
He also called what was happening a provocation and an attempt to disrupt the peace process in the Donbass.