Russian State Duma deputy comes under fire in Donbas
A Russian State Duma Deputy, Alexey Zhuravlev (non-factional) came under fire on Monday in the Donbas, as he stated to RIA Novosti.
"I wanted to be assured of today's announced ceasefire. We arrived at the Pyatnashka battalion’s location and came under mortar fire. One of the cars was disabled, we had to turn around and leave," he said.
According to unofficial data, the shelling occurred in the town of Kruta Balka near Yasynuvata.
Zhuravlev is the chairman of the Russian Rodina (Fatherland) party which supports the separatists and is an advocate of the idea of a "Russian Donbas." It seems he arrived in the Donetsk region illegally through an uncontrolled section of the border.
The website of the Rodina party says that representatives of the separatist news outlet, News Front and the Union TV channel went to the front line with Zhuravlev.
On midnight February 5th, a "spring" truce was supposed to begin in the Donbas, but it lasted only one hour. In the vicinity of the town of Shchastya, pro-Russian separatists fired in on Ukrainian positions using 82-mm mortars, automatic grenade launchers, and small arms for an hour and a half. In addition, at dawn, 82-mm caliber mortars were used against the military in Troitske.