Russian news agency: Ukraine has attacked pro-Russian separatists
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine claim to have been attacked by Ukrainian government forces. Ukraine rejects the claims.
The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported several attacks and called them violations of the Minsk agreement.
Ukrainian government forces have reportedly used grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to attack areas in the Lugansk breakaway region, according to the Russian news agency. The allegations have also been mentioned by the news agency Reuters. A statement from the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Lugansk said that government forces had opened fire four times in the past 24 hours.
However, the information has been rejected by the Ukrainian government, Reuters writes. The allegations have not been confirmed by other sources.
Ukraine rejects allegations
A spokesman for the Ukrainian government forces says that the Ukrainian side was the one attacked with artillery and other prohibited weapons – without responding to the fire.
NATO estimates that Russia has over 130,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, but the Russians deny that they plan to invade the neighboring country.
According to the AFP news agency, an unnamed White House official said on Wednesday that Russia could “at any time” publish false information as a pretext for invading Ukraine.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been going on since 2014, and there have been a number of clashes between government forces and separatists over the years.
Source : © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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