[Russian media said that Ukrainian government forces opened fire 5 times, the Ukrainian military denied] The Western countries led by the United States continue to play up "Russia invaded Ukraine", and even published a "specific timetable", but Russia has always remained unchanged.
According to the Russian news agency and the Russian Satellite News Agency reported on February 17 local time, Russian-backed civilian armed forces in eastern Ukraine accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling their control areas on the same day, violating the Minsk Agreement aimed at ending the conflict in the region.
According to the Joint Monitoring and Coordination Center (JCCC) of the "Implementation of Ceasefire and Stability issues on the demarcation line of all parties" in eastern Ukraine, at 5:30 a.m. local time on the 17th (10:30 Beijing time), Ukrainian government forces fired mortar shells and grenades and other weapons into four areas controlled by civilian armed forces in eastern Ukraine, a total of 5 times.
Reuters then reported that the Ukrainian military denied the Russian media's allegations that ukrainian troops launched attacks, and said that civilian armed forces in eastern Ukraine shelled ukrainian troops.
The attack reportedly came at a time of tension between Russia and NATO, which NATO members have previously claimed that Russia's military buildup near the Ukrainian border will trigger an "invasion," while the Russian side has repeatedly denied this allegation and warned that Ukraine may use force to provoke to resolve the conflict in the Donbass region.
According to the Russian news agency quoted a JCCC official as saying, starting from 5:30 a.m. local time on the 17th, the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian government army used mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to shell 4 areas of Luhansk, firing a total of 5 times before and after.
The official said the Ukrainian firing was a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement, and according to the Minsk agreement, the weapons used in the attack should be withdrawn.
Just after a number of Russian media issued this news, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian military denied reports that its government forces shelled the Wudong region, and said that the armed forces in the Wudong region shelled the Ukrainian army.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier stressed that the Minsk Agreement, which contained the conflict in the Eastern Region, was the only possible solution to the problem, but Ukraine did not want to implement the agreement. Putin said Ukraine has been delaying negotiations to resolve the conflict, and against the backdrop of NATO has been deploying military equipment around Russia.
The conflict in Eastern Ukraine began after the "Ukraine crisis" of 2014. In May 2014, the civilian armed forces of Donetsk and Luhansk declared their independence and established the "Donetsk People's Republic" (DPR) and the "Luhansk People's Republic" (LPR) respectively. It is worth mentioning that for a long time, THE DPR and LPR did not control all the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine and were not internationally recognized. In response, the armed forces of the Ukrainian government forces launched a military operation.
So far, the conflict has killed at least 30,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million civilians. Last month, Russia warned that it would not tolerate any provocations by Ukraine in the Donbass region and any attacks on Russian citizens living there.
In addition, February 16 was the time of the "Russian invasion of Ukraine" hyped by the US government and some Western media, but by the 16th, the Russian army did not fire a single shot, and more withdrawal videos were released.
Comprehensive Russian "Red Star" TELEVISION, TASS, CNN and The Associated Press and other media reports, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement on the 16th that after the Russian army ended the exercise, it took a train across the Crimea Bridge to return to Russia's permanent station, and the Russian army subsequently released a video in which the train carrying tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns passed through the Crimea Bridge.
Although russian troops released photos of equipment withdrawing from the border, NATO insisted that Russian troops did not withdraw. NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said on the 16th that no evidence of the downgrade of the situation in Russia and Ukraine has been found, and Russia seems to be continuing to increase troops. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken echoes this view. In addition, the United States has "anonymous senior officials" told the Associated Press and other media on the 16th that the Russian army not only did not withdraw, but instead sent 7,000 additional soldiers to the border, some of whom arrived at the border on February 16.
Earlier, on February 15, US President Joe Biden also declared in his speech that the Russian army continued to deploy 150,000 troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border and was ready to invade. In addition, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy also insisted that he did not see a withdrawal of Russian troops.
