A spontaneous peace protest began in the center of Donetsk, where about 500 people have gathered. Pavel Kalygin from Novaya Gazeta reports that the crowd is standing in front of the regional administration building and has blocked the main street of the city to protest the war.
Protesters are demanding an end to fighting and a restoration of damaged homes. They are blaming the separatists for provoking the Ukrainian armed forces to shoot at unarmed civilians.
Novaya Gazeta claims this is the first large peace protest since the conflict in eastern Ukraine began.
There is no evident reaction on the part of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic leadership to the protest. Donetsk People’s Republic policemen and operatives are here, and they are checking the documents of those who have gathered, including journalists. They look pretty lost.
A ceasefire is in place in the east of Ukraine since February, in accordance with the Minsk Peace Agreement. Nonetheless, the separatists and the Ukrainian armed forces regularly accuse each other of armed attacks.
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