Donetsk Leader Calls on OSCE to Force Kiev to Uphold Ceasefire

Leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko says Kiev forces have breached the ceasefire and attacked. He also calls on the world community and the OSCE to make Kiev fulfill the Minsk agreements.

DONETSK, January 19 (Sputnik) – The self-proclaimed eastern Ukrainian Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has blamed Kiev for breaching the ceasefire and attacking Donetsk, and has called on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to force Kiev to fulfill the Minsk agreements, the republic’s leader said Monday.

“We see quite well now that Ukraine has breached the ceasefire and attacked. We haven’t come under such [intense] artillery fire that we’ve seen in the last 48 hours,” the republic’s press center quoted Alexander Zakharchenko as saying.

“We once again call on the global community and the OSCE: If you want and if you share our opinion on a ceasefire, make Kiev fulfill the Minsk agreements,” Zakharchenko was quoted as saying.

Earlier in the day, the DPR stated that approximately 200 people had been killed and injured during the past 24 hours of heavy fighting initiated by Kiev forces.

Over the weekend, Kiev shelled populated areas on eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk, according to local militia.

On Sunday, Moscow expressed deep concern over resumption of heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, and Kiev's violation of the ceasefire agreements reached during the Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation meeting September 5, 2014.

A conflict in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region first erupted in April 2014, after Kiev launched a military operation against local independence supporters, who labeled the government that came to power in the country after a February coup illegitimate.

OSCE monitors have been deployed in southeastern Ukraine since March. They are closely watching the situation in the conflict regions, and numerous ceasefire violations by both sides have been reported.