Russian troops will continue to observe the truce after the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Russian troops continue to observe the ceasefire in the zone of the special operation in Ukraine until the end of the day on January 7, despite the artillery shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on settlements and Russian positions, reported Russian Defense Ministry in its Telegram channel.

“Ukrainian troops fired more than 60 large-caliber shells into residential areas of the city of Donetsk, and into the settlement of Makeevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic inflicted strike by American missiles of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system,” the ministry said.

In the Krasnolimansky direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out 11 mortar attacks on Russian positions. On the Soledar, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions, artillery was used 51 times by units of the Russian troops. In the Zaporozhye region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine opened artillery fire 31 times, in the Kherson and Krivoy Rog directions – 17 times. “All the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from which the shelling was carried out were suppressed by the return fire of the Russian troops,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Ceasefire regime along the entire line of contact between the parties valid from 12.00 on January 6 to 24.00 on January 7 on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The head of state noted that a large number of Orthodox Christians live in the areas of hostilities, and called on the Ukrainian side to also declare a ceasefire. In Kyiv, the initiative was not supported.

On January 1, at 0.01 Moscow time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a strike with six HIMARS rockets (two were intercepted by air defense) on the building in which the Russian military personnel were located. According to the Ministry of Defense, died 89 people.