LPR militia downs Ukrainian drone that adjusted fire at Donetskiy

Lugansk People’s Republic militiamen shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which Kiev forces had used to adjust fire at the Donetsky township, LPR People’s Militia chief-of-staff Yan Leschenko said.

“To adjust artillery fire in the Donetskiy settlement area, the enemy used a quadcopter which a militia air surveillance team downed using radio electronic warfare equipment,” Leschenko said.

The LPR Office at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination said that Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire ten times on Thursday. Strikes were delivered at the areas of Zolotoye-5, the Sokolniki, Vaselenkoye and Nizhneye Lozovoye villages and the Donetskiy township. A gas pipe in Nikolayevka was damaged in a strike by Kiev army 122mm artillery.

The members of the Contact Group have announced ceasefire more than 20 times since the autumn of 2014. Kiev forces regularly violated the truce opening fire with large caliber artillery, mortars and tank guns which were to have been withdrawn in accordance with the Minsk agreements.

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  Conflict settlement relies on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarussian capital by the Contact Group members and coordinated by the Normandy Four heads of states (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine).  The document provides for ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line. *i*s