In violation of the Minsk agreements, the armistice agreements and the norms of international humanitarian law, in the conduct of hostilities, Ukrainian military personnel continue to fire at peaceful cities and towns of the Republic using artillery and mortars. Moreover, every day the number of attacks from the AFU is growing, and their geography is expanding.
In addition to Donetsk and Horlivka, we have recently seen an escalation in the Mariupol direction, where earlier, on the contrary, a decrease in tension was recorded. Thus, on 28 July, the settlement of Novaya Maryevka in the Telmanovsky district was subjected to a massive mortar attack from the Ukrainian military. As a result, three defenders of the Republic were killed, and another was seriously wounded.
The statements of the Ukrainian side about strict observance of the ceasefire regime look especially cynical against this background. To understand the real picture of what is happening, I will give statistics. Thus, since 27 July 2020, when the Measures to strengthen the ceasefire regime in Donbass came into force, as a result of the armed aggression on the part of Kiev, 68 DPR servicemen and 5 civilians, including 1 child, were killed. 84 defenders of the Republic and 15 civilians sustained injuries varying degrees of severity.
The actions of the armed formations of Ukraine nullify all diplomatic efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Donbass. I believe that the current situation requires an immediate and objective legal assessment by international human rights bodies. Persons who have committed war crimes in Donbass must be brought to justice and punished as they deserve. And it is the principled position of the international community in this context that can become the basis of fair justice.
