KIEV (Sputnik) – According to a Facebook statement posted by the press center of Kiev’s military operation in Donbass on Saturday, 24 of the 54 shelling instances occurred in the Donetsk area and four in the Luhansk area.
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.
In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between Ukraine’s conflicting sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Despite the fact that the deal stipulates a full ceasefire in Donbass, violations both on the part of Kiev forces and local militia have been reported.
According to the United Nations, over 9,000 people have died as a result of the internal conflict in Ukraine.