"In the past 24 hours, five Ukrainian servicemen were injured," the statement reads, adding that a total of 45 shellings were carried out against Kiev forces in the past 24 hours and the situation in Donbass "remains tense."
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also said that Kiev forces returned fire using automatic grenade launchers.
In 2014, Ukrainian authorities launched a special military operation in the country’s southeast, after local residents refused to recognize the new authorities in Kiev, which took the power as a result of what many considered as a coup, and established the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR).
In February 2015, the warring parties to the Ukrainian conflict signed the Minsk peace accords in order to cease fire in the crisis-torn region. Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, as the members of the Normandy Four, helped negotiate the Donbass ceasefire. It has been, however, repeatedly breached, with the conflicting sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime, including the most recent cessation of hostilities that came into force on April 1 and was supposed to last through the Easter holidays.
