LUGANSK (Sputnik) — According to Lugansk Information Center citing a source in the self-proclaimed LPR, the shelling began at 23:15 local time [20:15 GMT].
"Artillery barrage literally rained down on our position in Veselohorivka from the Ukrainian security forces in village of Troitsky," the source said.
The source specified that the Ukrainian army is using 120-millimeter mortars and automatic mounted grenade launchers to open fire on the LPR militia.
"No less than 20 mines have been fired our way."
Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.
After independence referendums held in May 2014, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) were established.
In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, an all-for-all prisoner exchange and constitutional reforms, which would give a special status to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in the southeast.
Despite the Minsk peace deal, ceasefire violations continue in Ukraine, with both sides having accused each other of conducting multiple shellings.
