Over the past day, militants 16 times breached the silence regime in Donbas, killing one Ukrainian soldier and wounding two, the headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation said in a Facebook report on Friday. "Russian-backed terrorist forces flagrantly violate the ceasefire using weapons prohibited under the Minsk agreements, particularly tanks and heavy mortars," the report says.
In the Luhansk sector, an enemy sniper fired at Ukrainian servicemen stationed in Krymske, and employed mortars at around midnight. The terrorists also shelled the outskirts of Svitlodarsk from grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.
In the Donetsk sector, the area of Pisky was a "hot" spot, where the militants fired 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns, and then stepped up pressure and used tank weapons and 120-mm mortars.
The enemy fired a heavy mortar at the approaches of Vodyane in the Azov coastal area.
"It was also restless in the suburbs of Avdiyivka and near Kamyanka, where the enemy pounded Ukrainian fortifications from mortars and infantry weapons," ATO HQ reported.
The Tripartite Contact Group and representatives of the "DPR" and "LPR" at the talks in Minsk agreed a new ceasefire staring at midnight on 23 December.