Russian-led forces violate ceasefire near five populated areas in Donbas

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Maksym Prauta said this at a briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"As of 12:00 on March 19, five enemy shellings were recorded. According to available information, no casualties among the Ukrainian military were reported,” the spokesman said.

In particular, the enemy used mounted and hand-held antitank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to fire at the positions of the Joint Forces outside Novoluhanske (53km north-east of Donetsk). The Russian-led forces also fired 20 120mm mines at the Ukrainian positions near Krymske (42km north-west of Luhansk).

In addition, near Krasnohorivka (21km west of Donetsk), the invaders fired six mines from a 120mm mortar and used a mounted antitank grenade launcher.

Also, the Russian-occupation troops used weapons on infantry fighting vehicle, mounted antitank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to fire at the positions of defenders of Pavlopol (25km north-west of Mariupol). In the area of Lebedynske (16km east of Mariupol), the enemy fired 12 mines from a 82mm mortar and used an automatic grenade launcher and machine gun.

The Defense Ministry spokesman noted that, despite the threat to their lives and health, the Ukrainian military returned fire from infantry weapons twice.

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