Over 170 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian troops reported

A total of 172 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces were reported in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in the past week, Ruslan Yakubov, DPR’s representative at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), said on Monday.

"In a period from October 15 to 21, as many as 172 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian forces were reported," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.

According to Yakubov, a total of 1,669 shells were fired by Ukrainian troops over that period. Twenty-seven residential houses and infrastructure facilities were damaged.

The "back-to-school" ceasefire came into force in Donbass from midnight August 29. It was agreed upon by the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine on August 22, ahead of a new academic year. The ceasefire was violated three hours after it came into effect as Ukrainian forces shelled the suburbs of the Gorlovka town.

Since the start of the conflict in Donbass, the parties have agreed on more than 20 ceasefires. The longest one was reported in 2016 when the ceasefire held for six weeks in a row. However, all the efforts to establish lasting ceasefire have been failing so far.