Both sides on the civil war in southeastern Ukraine report the other violates terms of the truce as separate battles resume in Lugansk and Donetsk, according to Russian language news accounts.
Rebel media reported Tuesday that work in the rubble of the Donetsk airport had to be suspended due to shelling from Ukrainian artillery. The Ukrainian spokesman for the ministry of defense charged that rebel forces have been sending recon teams against their positions in western Donetsk.
Ukrainian groups are also known to operate in western Donetsk with a small bore mortar kept in the truck of a car. The group stops the car, opens the trunk, fires three or four shots, and before rebel security forces in the area can respond, the group is gone. Such an attack took place in the Leninskiy district on Monday.
According to reports compiled from rebel media, most of the direct fire battles are taking place in Peski, which is one kilometer northwest from the grounds of the airport. Parts of Peski are controlled by both sides.
Small arms fire exchanges have also been noted in Avdievka, which is near Peski and west of the airport.
Rebel media said that Ukrainian artillery hit Spartak, which is a rebel force marshaling point for that sector of the city, while Ukrainians say that rebel forces have been exchanging small arms fire in the Pavlopol Volnovakha sector of Donetsk city.
Ukrainians also say that rebels move their artillery from the front line as required by the latest iteration of the Minsk Truce, only to bring artillery back after observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) leave the area. Rebel media say much the same thing: that Ukrainians do not abide by the terms of the truce.
According to rebel media, most of the artillery removed was non functioning, while the functional artillery is still in forward areas, masked in hollows and covered by camouflage netting.
Rebel media continually charge that the Ukrainian Army is preparing for another provocation, which is unlikely given the current low state of readiness of the Ukrainian Army.
Fighting in Northern Lugansk
Positional battles continue between Lugansk rebel forces all along highway T1303 as Ukrainian mobile forces attack several checkpoints now maintained by rebel forces, according to rebel media.
Here, as in Donetsk, rebel media say Ukrainian forces are preparing for another battle against rebel forces, despite the sorry state of Ukrainian forces.