US president to host transatlantic call on Friday as western leaders gather in Munich amid renewed claims of shelling in eastern Ukraine
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Ukraine’s commander of the Joint Forces, lieutenant general Alexander Pavlyuk, also released a statement overnight, claiming Russian-backed troops have increased provocative actions ahead of the Munich security conference in a bid to provoke Ukraine’s armed forces to fire.
Pavlyuk addressed reporters from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian ministry of defence published a report from his speech below:
The Russian Federation is trying to hide another crime against the defenders of Ukraine and the civilian population behind an information campaign … Russia is spreading [fake news] about the alleged shelling of the kindergarten by the United Forces.”
All this was done to provoke the armed forces to retaliate and accuse them of genocide. Instead, our armed Forces abide by the Minsk agreements, and respond only after all means of ceasefire through the OSCE and the SCCC have been exhausted, when the lives of servicemen are threatened.”
The Russian occupation forces continue to ignore the agreements reached on July 22, 2020 within the Tripartite Contact Group.
During the past 24 hours, on February 17, the armed forces of the Russian Federation recorded 60 violations of the ceasefire, 43 of which using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements.”
