Journalists, Monitors Come Under Fire in Donbass

Journalists and monitors came under fire in Donbass.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A group of journalists and members of Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) came under fire in Eastern Ukraine, the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) forces' spokesman Andrei Marochko told Sputnik on Sunday.

"Representatives of the JCCC and journalists came under fire at 16:10 local time [13:10 GMT] today when left for [inspection] of the Donetsky settlement, which was shelled [yesterday]," Marochko said.

He stressed that the shelling of the area was still ongoing.

The Donbass conflict erupted in April 2014 as a local counter-reaction to the West-sponsored Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referendums and proclaimed the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev has since been conducting a military operation, encountering stiff local resistance.

 

In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states, the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.