Despite a ceasefire being called in the Donbas from midnight on June 1, Russian-backed forces launched two shelling attacks on Ukrainian forces before dawn, Ukraine’s military has said.
The attacks by the Russian-backed forces were of low intensity but indiscriminate, said Ukraine’s military spokesman in the war zone, Anton Myronovych.
“The recent clashes did not pose a major threat to our forces,” Myronovych told the 112 news channel on the morning of June 1. “They can be explained by a lack of discipline or awareness. Things like this happen with them when they simply don’t know what is going on higher up the command chain, and they probably weren’t given an order. We hope they will stick to the ceasefire for the whole of the rest of the day.”
Previously, Ukraine’s military press center in the Donbas said the Ukrainian and Russian sides in the Joint Coordination and Control Center (JCCC), a military liaison body, had agreed to call a full, one-day ceasefire on June 1 – a move that was subsequently confirmed by representatives of Russia’s proxy forces in the Donbas.
Ukrainian Armed Forces commanders gave the order for a ceasefire along the entire line of contact in the Donbas from midnight on June 1 to midnight on June 2.
“However, if the lives of servicemen and civilians are threatened by the enemy, or there are any attempts to alter the contact line, Ukraine’s Armed Forces will be ready to engage (the enemy),” according to a statement by Ukrainian military staff.
The latest ceasefire is the fourteenth attempt to call a halt to the fighting in eastern Ukraine since an initial ceasefire was agreed on the eve of the signing the Minsk peace agreements in September 2014.
According to Myronovych, the decision to call a new ceasefire was made at the initiative of the Ukrainian and Russian parties in the JCCC, to mark International Сhildren’s Day, which is celebrated in Ukraine on June 1.
Two Ukrainian servicemen were wounded on the evening of May 31, just hours before the ceasefire entered into force, according to Ukraine’s military press office.
As of midday on June 1, the military situation on the frontline remains stable, with no major violations by Russian-backed forces being reported so far, Myronovych told the KyivPost.
