The Ukrainian armed forces shelled the outskirts of the Donetsk water filtration plant in eastern Ukraine late on Friday, prompting the evacuation of personnel, an official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has said.
“The armed forces of Ukraine opened fire toward Yasinovataya. The zone of shelling included the outskirts of the Donetsk water filtration station. The Ukrainian troops continue mortar fire, the personnel has taken shelter. To date, a total of 35 120-mm mortar rounds have been fired. The damage is being assessed,” the head of the DPR mission to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC), Ruslan Yakubov, said.
On Friday evening, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked the outskirts of Donetsk and Yasinovataya, using mortars, AFV-mounted guns, air defense systems and firearms.
On April 18, members of the Contact Group on peaceful settlement in Donbass failed to agree on establishing a comprehensive and stable ceasefire for the first time since the hostilities had begun. “Kiev refused to take additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime which were supposed to ensure strong security and transition to political settlement,” Russia’s envoy to the Contact Group Boris Gryzlov said earlier. “Proposals of Donetsk and Lugansk, which were supported by Russia and earlier by the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe], were rejected,” he added.
The latest agreement on ceasefire (the so-called “spring ceasefire”) entered into force on March 8, 2019.