Pro-Russian separatists used a new type of weapon while shelling the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region on July 20, 2017. According to the Ukrainian contingent of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), they used a mobile, four-barrel rocket launcher system.

"The Ukrainians of the JCCC received information on the illegal armed groups’ use of mobile four-barrel rocket launchers developed in 2015 by the so-called ‘Republican Center for Research and Development of the DPR.’ It was established that one of these launchers was used by the separatists during the bombardment of the settlement and the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnohorivka area on July 20, 2017," the JCCC statement says, which was published on the Facebook page of the press center of the ATO headquarters on Monday, July 24.

The report notes that in view of the results of its combat use, it is likely that in the near future this type of multiple launch rocket system will be used quite often by separatists in shelling settlements and positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, "despite the fact that the use of the multiple rocket launcher system is strictly forbidden by the Minsk agreements.”

"The Ukrainian side of the JCCC provided the OSCE SMM with the available photos and videos of this weapon and hopes that this will help the mission's observers to better identify unknown types of weapons on the uncontrolled territory of the Luhansk and the Donetsk regions," the message said.

As the Ukrainian JCCC representatives point out, the use of this weapon by the separatists attests to gross violations of the Minsk agreements, reluctance to adhere to the obligations assumed in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group, and "conscious planning and implementation of terrorist acts against civilians."

  Donbas, Weapons, Minsk agreements

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