Minsk Protocol

"On Thursday morning, the Ukrainian security forces shelled nine settlements in the territories of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics for two hours", this was announced by the representatives of the republics in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of Ceasefire, writes Sputnik.

According to the description of the videos posted on social networks, heavy artillery fire has been echoing in that part of Ukraine since early morning.

Heavy shelling in #Donetsk this morningpic.twitter.com/tYz8Bp5Hu1

— marqs (@MarQs__) February 2, 2022

Another video states that the artillery is echoing in the Kirovsky district.

Moscow and Kiev have agreed to abide by a "ceasefire" policy during talks in the Normandy format in Paris. After nearly 9 hours of talks, Paris officials described the discussions as a "good signal".

The gathering of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine has raised fears that the Kremlin is planning an invasion of its neighbor Ukraine.

He said that the population in the war-torn east of Ukraine, a zone that is currently at the center of new tensions between Moscow and the West, was affected by "Russophobia", which, in his words, is "the first step towards genocide".

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked for about two hours on a secure video link on Tuesday amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, world media reported.

"We are different people, free, respecting democracy. We understand that Ukrainians live there. And we respect the citizens of Ukraine ... There will be no massacre ... We are a different government. For us, the most important thing is human life. Therefore, I do not see such conclusions", Zelensky pointed out in an interview with "1 + 1" television.

The reason, according to Putin, is that the authorities in Kiev "have no desire to implement the Minsk agreements."

At one point he compared the region of Donbass with Srebrenica.

"As for the tragedy that is playing out there, one should always look at the primary source, and that was the coup (in Ukraine)," Putin said, according to Sputnik's Serbian language website.

Kurt Volker, who was appointed US representative for Ukraine negotiations in July, tweeted on Wednesday that he will meet his Russian counterpart on Saturday in the Serbian capital.

"Will meet Russian counterpart Oct 7 in Belgrade to discuss how to catalyze Minsk implementation and restore Ukraine's territorial integrity," Volker tweeted.

Photo: RIA Novosti

Ukrainian security forces continue to place weapons and military equipment along the contact line in Donbass, which is prohibited by the Minsk agreements, Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) militia spokesman Andrei Marochko said Saturday.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France will hold their latest round of telephone talks on July 24 to discuss the crisis in Ukraine, Kiev and Moscow said.

The talks - the first since Emmanuel Macron took office in France - come after the latest uptick in violence in the east of Ukraine.