Ukrainian soldiers get killed amid ceasefire in Donbas

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and another was wounded
early Feb. 23 near Svitlodarsk in Donbas as a result of enemy shelling, the
press service of the Ukrainian delegation at the Trilateral Contact Group
reported. Another Ukrainian soldier was killed and two servicemen were wounded
the day before, when “Russian-occupation forces in Donbas violated the
ceasefire 11 times”, according to the press center of the Joint Force Operation
headquarters of Ukraine.

The headquarters specified that on Feb. 23, the
Russian-occupation forces fired at the Ukrainian positions with 82-caliber
mortars and heavy anti-tank grenade launchers. On Feb. 22, the use of heavy
grenade launchers, large-caliber machine guns and small arms was observed.

Yuri Svirko: The so-called ceasefire seems to be over, as Ukraine now counts its
victims every day. We expect that tensions will grow due to the improving
weather conditions and worsening political backgrounds. Recall, the last summit
of the Normandy Four took place in Paris in December 2019, with a pledge to
hold a follow-up meeting in March-April 2020. In fact, no significant progress
has been made since then. Moscow continues to finance the self-proclaimed
republics in Donbas, supplying them with Russian arms and passports. Kyiv has
so far failed to find a political settlement but imposed in-country sanctions
on two MPs and blamed them for funding Donbas terrorists which could lead to
growing tensions there.