European Observers Hint Russia Connection In Eastern Ukraine Shelling

Russia-Ukraine — Rebel fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement fire grad rockets from Idlib countryside towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who are stationed at Jureen town in al-Ghab plain in the Hama countryside, April 25, 2015. The Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement is participating in an operation providing backup support for fellow rebel fighters in Jisr al-Shughour after they took control of the area. Islamist insurgents including al-Qaeda's wing in Syria Nusra Front on Saturday captured large parts of the northwestern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour for the first time in the four year conflict. Syrian activists and a violence monitoring group said that fighters have pushed inside the town which lies on a road between the coastal city of Latakia and Syria's second city of Aleppo, after days of heavy fighting. Reuters/Mohamad Bayoush

International observers have determined that Soviet Grad rocket launchers had been used in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to a report released Monday.

According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), eight fresh craters related to shelling in the Krasnoarmeyskoye settlement reveal that Grad multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS, 122mm) were used from a westerly direction, hinting a probable Russian involvement.

Observations at the settlement of Telmanovo reach similar conclusions. “MLRS (122mm BM-21 Grad) fired from a west-south-westerly direction," Russia's Tass news agency quoted the OSCE report. "The SMM observed that some houses were heavily damaged and a transformer providing electricity to the village was destroyed."

During a declared ceasefire, nine people were killed Monday night as Russia-backed rebels and government troops got involved in an artillery exchange in eastern Ukraine, KOMO News reported. Even though the ceasefire was agreed upon in February, neither side has withdrawn heavy weapons from the region.

Leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine signed a peace agreement Feb. 12, with the ceasefire officially coming into effect at midnight Feb. 15.

According to an U.N. estimate, the conflict in eastern Ukraine killed 6,400 people since April 2014. The ceasefire was reportedly violated Monday after Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists had failed to reach an agreement on withdrawing weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make any comment about the recent shelling. However, he said that the present government in Ukraine was “not free” to make decisions as it was controlled by foreign powers. Putin said that the Ukraine was heavily influenced by Western countries including the United States.

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