Bombings were heard in the area of Donetsk airport and the village of Elenovka in eastern Ukraine, an witness told Reuters, without making it clear how serious the incidents were or where the mortar shelling came from.

The OSCE, which monitors the situation in eastern Ukraine but has withdrawn some of its observers in recent days, also confirms “multiple incidents” of mortar bombings in the region.

Extensive shelling along the ‘Line of Contact’ (between the pro-Russian rebel occupied areas of Ukraine and the Ukrainian front line) has been confirmed by international monitors of the OSCE. You can clearly hear it in this video. Is this the start?
pic.twitter.com/N8AQM0uUEq

— Henry Bolton OBE ?? (@_HenryBolton) February 17, 2022

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Such incidents have occurred several times in the last eight years, but this comes at a time when Russia is accused of gathering more than 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and has withdrawn some of its observers in recent days.

The situation in the Donbas region is “escalating”, said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peshkov, referring to “huge potential fire from the Ukrainian forces”.

Peshkov also accused NATO of “overtly communicative aggression against Russia” and added that the Russian Foreign Ministry would give the West its answers to “the problems of security guarantees”.

Earlier, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine accused the Ukrainian Army of firing on the area they control, four times in 24 hours, adding that they were trying to make sure there were no casualties.