Kiev says military parade in Donbass violated Minsk agreements

KIEV, May 11. /TASS/. Kiev calls military parades held in Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk cities on Victory Day a provocation, saying the use of military hardware allegedly violated the Minsk agreements.

"We consider preparations for and holding of military parades in Donetsk and Lugansk on May 9 as a rude violation of Point Two of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a report, mentioning howitzers, Grad multiple rocket launcher systems, T-72 tanks, armored vehicles, Strela-10 air defense missile systems among the hardware taking part in the parades.

Kiev expects that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine will not leave this unattended.

Earlier, the defence ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic confirmed that the OSCE had expressed fears over military hardware taking part in the parade.

To allay all concerns, all items of hardware paraded without ammunition. "We ‘disarmed’ the hardware pointedly, to show everybody that we want to have a peaceful Victory Parade," the ministry said.

People’s police of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic said that as Lugansk was located not far from the contact line, all military hardware taking part in the parade had been checked by representatives from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).