Ukraine minister says Russia-backed rebels behind attacks in country's east: Report

Amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia, pro-Russian militants are reportedly using the crisis as an opportunity to express their separatist agenda. Ukraine's interior minister Denys Monastyrskiy, several deputies (MPs), and a team of journalists visited the Ukrainian front line, hosted by the government to show the ongoing situation on the border. The footage of the incident shows how all the bombardments were coming from the Ukrainian rebel side, CNN reported.

Later, at a news conference in Kramatorsk, Monastyrskiy told CNN that Russian military advisers were playing a role in the fighting in the eastern part of the country.

"We have information about the advance of the Russian army on our territory," he was quoted by CNN as saying.

"There is also information that certain units of the Wagner PMC have entered our territory. The purpose of the stay is to organise sabotage in our territory," Monastyrskiy added.

The Wagner PMC is a private Russian paramilitary force that has connections with separatists in eastern Ukraine and is also active in countries including Libya, Syria, and the Central African Republic, among others. However, like all other accusations, the Russian government has also denied any association with Wagner or other private military contractors.

Ukraine says Kremlin-backed Wagner PMC behind attacks in country's east

According to the CNN report, the Ukrainian armed forces, over the past few days, have reported a surge in heavy weapons fire against Ukrainian positions, also known as the line of contact. The Ukraine Defense Department said that through 17:00 local time (10 a.m. ET) Saturday, "70 violations of the ceasefire regime were recorded by the Russian occupation forces, 60 of which were by using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements", CNN reported. As many as four Ukrainian servicemen sustained severe injuries, and two were killed on Saturday, reported the Ukrainian Defence Ministry.

Taking to Facebook, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Ukraine had no plans to launch an attack against the breakaway regions, including the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk republics.

"We do not plan any offensives, but we will not allow the firing on the positions of our troops and human settlements with impunity," said Reznikov.

It should be mentioned that the anti-Ukrainian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence from Ukraine in 2014, and since then, the breakaway regions have been fighting against Ukraine by gaining support from Russia.

(Image: @DenysMonastyrskiy/Facebook/AP)