Donetsk Militia Registers Multiple ‘Harvest Truce’ Breaches by Ukrainian Troops

Ukrainian troops opened fire seven times at militia positions in the eastern region of Donetsk, just two hours after a new truce came into force there at midnight, a security source told local media on Saturday.

DONETSK (Sputnik) — The truce, which was expected to last from June 24 until the end of August, was also violated twice near the city of Horlivka, north of the regional capital Donetsk. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the source said.

"The ‘regime of calm’ has been violated seven times as of 2:00 a.m. [23:00GMT], twice in the direction of Mariupol where [government forces] used light weapons. Three breaches were registered in the direction of Donetsk, including tanks firing several rounds at Dokuchaievsk," the source told the Donetsk News Agency.

An agreement on a ceasefire along the line of contact between government and militia forces was hammered out by Russian, Ukrainian and OSCE mediators on Wednesday for the duration of the harvest season.

Officials in the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions vowed to honor the pact. Ukraine's Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko argued on Friday that no final deal had been reached but added they would go along with the plan.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has told Sputnik that SMM’s deputy chief monitor Alexander Hug was going to inspect the separation line near the city of Zolote in the Luhansk region on Saturday.