“Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian armed formations violated the ceasefire once,” the […]Donetsk, Jul 30 – DAN. The population is suffering there doubly, from the coronavirus crisis and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Ms. Sommaruga EU member states formally extended economic sanctions against Russia on Monday by six months until January 31 next year, the European Council said. Donbass is an industrial center and is known for coal mining. Writing in the From the beginning of March 2014, demonstrations by Amidst the ongoing war, the separatist republics held On January 11, 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers in Ukraine approved a plan for the reintegration of the region and population of Donbass.According to the 2001 census, ethnic Ukrainians form 58% of the population of Residents of Russian origin are mainly concentrated in the larger urban centers. Russian forces and equipment went on to participate in the By early August 2014, at least 730,000 had fled fighting in the Donbass and left for Russia.By April 2015, the war had caused at least 1.3 million people to become According to another report by the UN OHCHR, over 3 million people continued to live in the Donbass conflict zone as of March 2016.By November 2017, the UN had identified 1.8 million internally displaced and conflict-affected persons in Ukraine, while another 427,240 who had sought asylum or refugee status in the Russian Federation, plus 11,230 in Italy, 10,495 in Germany, 8,380 in Spain, and 4,595 in Poland.The number of confirmed fatalities (deaths) caused by the war was 13,000–13,200 as of mid-February 2020.Ukrainian government forces have lost a confirmed total of 4,431 killed servicemen by early June 2020, including 211 foreign-born Ukrainian citizens and 13 foreigners.Pro-Russian sources claimed Ukrainian forces had: 10,000 killed, 20,000 wounded and 13,500 deserted or missing, by late June 2015.The separatists reported that they had lost 1,400 men at most as of the beginning of February 2015.An image of a reported separatist graveyard in Donetsk in late February 2015,By late July 2020, DPR separatist authorities reported that a total of 4,932 separatists and civilians had been killed in DPR-controlled territory,Many observers have asked both the Ukrainian government and the insurgents to seek peace, and ease tensions in Donetsk and Luhansk. He addressed Russian president After a prolonged battle, the Armed Forces recaptured the vital town of As government troops pushed into Donetsk on 5 August, heavy fighting erupted at 17:00 in the Petrovskyi district of the city.Fighting and shelling continued around Donetsk on 8 August, with several civilians killed or injured.Later in the day on 14 August, a convoy of some two dozen armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles with official Russian military plates crossed into Ukraine near the insurgent-controlled After having edged into Luhansk city on 18 August, government forces began to advance through the city "block by block" on 19 August.By 25 August, an insurgent counter-offensive had stalled the government's offensive on Donetsk and Luhansk cities.Despite these advances by pro-Russian forces, the National Guard of Ukraine temporarily retook the city of The ceasefire was broken multiple times on the night of 6–7 September, and into the day on 7 September.Heavy fighting continued across the Donbass through October, despite the ceasefire. The address was carried by the DPR leader’s Telegram channel. Ukrainian and separatist forces had withdrawn most of the heavy weaponry specified in Minsk II by 10 March.An anti-war protest took place in Donetsk city on 15 June.A new ceasefire came into effect on 1 September 2016, described at the time by BBC correspondent 2016 was the first full calendar year of the conflict in which Ukraine lost no territories to pro-Russian forces.According to both parties to the conflict, the fourth truce attempt of 2017 collapsed within a few hours on 24 June 2017.On 18 January 2018, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill to regain control over separatist-held areas. Western officials described this new offensive as a "stealth invasion" by the Russian Federation. Ukraine launched a military counter-offensive against pro-Russian forces in April 2014, called the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" (ATO) from 2014 until 2018, when it was renamed the "Joint Forces Operation" (JFO).As a result of the invasion, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the Ukrainian government's preceding military offensive.Since the start of the conflict there have been more than 20 ceasefires, each intended to remain in force indefinitely, but none of them stopped the violence.Attempts to seize the Donetsk Regional State Administration (RSA) building began since Unrest in Luhansk Oblast began on 6 April, when approximately 1,000 activists seized and occupied the Unmarked separatist militants seized the Donetsk city office of the A number of interviews given in 2019–2020 by participants on the Russian side (including In response to the widening unrest, the acting Ukrainian President, A group of masked pro-Russian militants under the command of a retired Shortly after taking control over Sloviansk, Girkin's group executed member of town council After a government counter-offensive as part of the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" in Donetsk Oblast on 2–3 May, the insurgents were routed from Kramatorsk's occupied SBU building.Militants attempted to seize the police headquarters in Donetsk People's Republic activists took control of the city administration building in Mariupol on 13 April.Clashes between government forces and pro-Russian groups escalated in early May, when the city administration building was briefly retaken by the Ukrainian National Guard. “Since additional measures to control the ceasefire active from July 21, 2019, came into force at midnight, no violations have been recorded”, the report reads. “Experts of the Regional Department of the Duct Operation of the Voda Donbassa water company have completed the repairs of the Seversky […]Donetsk, Jul 29 – DAN. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has pledged that Kiev will guarantee its compliance with the ceasefire in Donbass. OSCE statements and spot reports caused significant anger in Ukraine as it vaguely reports military "convoys leaving and entering Ukraine on dirt roads in the middle of the night, in areas where there is no official crossing" without explicitly mentioning Russian armed forces.A former separatist militant corroborated these stories in an interview with In late July, the local support for the militia within the city of Donetsk was estimated to be 70% by a local entrepreneur interviewed by Khodakovsky said that the "overwhelming majority" of his men came from eastern Ukraine.By late February 2015, 110 members of the battalion had been killed and 172 wounded in the conflict.Although Cossack units have been prohibited from crossing the Russian border into Ukraine en masse,Chechen paramilitaries were spotted in Sloviansk on 5 May 2014.Starting on 4 May 2014, the United Ossetia Party and the Union of Paratroopers in the pro-Russian breakaway There are reports that volunteers from France, Germany, the United States, Italy, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and other countries have fought on the insurgent side.In 2016, Ukraine was struggling to recruit conscript servicemen, due to significant evasion of conscription, to replace demobilising soldiers including volunteers.