Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed rebels in the country's east have traded new claims of bombardment and other ceasefire violations. According to Ukraine's ministry of defence, rebels in the Donbas region have violated the ceasefire 60 times in the last 24 hours, resulting in one soldier being injured.

As per report, Ukraine's Joint Forces commander, lieutenant general Alexander Pavlyuk, alleged that Russia-backed troops had increased provocative acts in an attempt to push Ukraine's armed forces to fire.

Russia's defence ministry said, some infantry battalions have been withdrawn from Crimea. After completing drills in Crimea, the tanks are claimed to have returned to their bases in Dagestan and Chechnya. The self-proclaimed rebel republic of Luhansk, according to Russia's Interfax news agency, reported three episodes of mortar fire on Friday morning.

Separately, the Ukrainian military stated late Thursday in a statement that it had no plans to attack rebel strongholds or shell people, and that it would "strictly comply to the Minsk agreements and rules of international humanitarian law."

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