Donetsk Militia Continues Mobilization to Boost Defense Capability

Deputy commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic DPR militia Eduard Basurin said that Donetsk is continuing recruitment of volunteers in order to be ready to counter the threat of full-scale offensive breaking the ceasefire.

DONETSK (Sputnik) — Militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) is continuing recruitment of volunteers over concerns that Kiev

could breach the Minsk peace accords without prior warning and resume its military action in eastern Ukraine, a senior DPR military official said Tuesday.

"Ukraine is strengthening its military forces and we should be prepared [to counter this threat]," deputy commander of the DPR militia Eduard Basurin told reporters in Donetsk.

According to Basurin, Kiev could “soon find a pretext to recall its signature [under the Minsk agreements] or simply violate these agreements with a full-scale offensive without a prior warning.”

Kiev and the militia of Ukraine's eastern breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk initially agreed on a ceasefire in September last year during talks in Minsk, Belarus, brokered by Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

However, fighting continued in East Ukraine, intensifying greatly in the first weeks of 2015.

A new and urgent ceasefire deal was signed in mid-February, outlined during a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany. Ukraine’s warring sides again vowed to cease fire, as well as pull back heavy artillery from the contact line.