Donetsk Republic to renounce Minsk deals if Kiev forces continue shelling its towns

Authorities of Donetsk People's Republic will renounce compliance with the Minsk accords if the pro-Kiev forces continue shelling the cities and towns in Donbass, Eduard Basurin, the spokesman for the DPR Defence Ministry told a news conference hosted by the Donetsk News Agency on Thursday.

"If the Ukrainian Armed Forces deliver fire at the DPR cities and towns in the future, we'll pull out of the Minsk accords," he said.

Basurin said that the Ukrainian side had been delivering indiscriminate barraging fire in the areas around the townships of Vidnoye and Opytnoye since Wednesday afternoon. At the same time, self-defence units near Donetsk and Mariupol ignored the enemy provocations and did not conduct any offensive combat actions, he added.

As it has been previously reported Ukrainian forces had resumed artillery shellings of north-western parts of Donetsk in violation of ceasefire agreements. This was reported by the locals and authorities of Donetsk.