Dozens of ceasefire violations have taken place in the last 36 hours, with attacks near Mariupol, Donetsk, and Artemiivsk stretching from the night of December 12 into the morning of December 13. Ukraine Today reports:
Small arms, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Just some weapons used by combined Russian-separatist forces to fire at the Ukrainian army.
Almost 50 attacks were recorded overnight into Saturday morning. These occurred west of Donetsk and the Azov Sea coastal village of Skyrokyne.
The Ukraine Crisis Center reports:
With the Minsk accords set to expire at the end of December, the ceasefire continues to look shaky. But it's also important to remember that the ceasefire has always been the first clause on Minsk, not the entire agreement, and 16 months after the first Minsk protocol was signed uncertainty remains as to whether the current diplomatic process will bring about change.
-- James Miller