Territory controlled by the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the neighboring Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) has reportedly been subjected to heavy artillery fire during the day.
The source for the information is local officials, and RT is unable to independently corroborate their assertions.
The attacks have allegedly intensified in the evening, according to videos circulating online.
"At the moment, the situation is only getting worse compared to the past few days. We've detected some 700 munitions fired at the territory of the republic [on Sunday]," a spokesman for the militia of DPR, Eduard Basurin, told Russian media.
The neighboring LPR has reported a similar escalation, claiming artillery shelling has been registered throughout the whole line of contact with Ukrainian forces.
"The situation on the line of contact has escalated significantly over the past hours," a spokesman for the popular militia of Lugansk, Ivan Filippenko, has said. He also alleged that Ukrainian special forces units have been deployed at the line of contact.
Since Thursday, the DPR and the LPR have been accusing Kiev of heavy shelling across the contact line established by the 2014-15 ceasefire agreements. Top officials of the self-proclaimed republics claimed the situation looked like the Kiev forces were preparing an all-out offensive, with the artillery fire coming ahead an assault by land forces. Kiev has denied harboring any plans to the take the breakaway regions by force, accusing the rebels of violating the ceasefire themselves.
The ongoing escalation has prompted the DPR and the LPR to begin a mass evacuation of civilians into the neighboring region of Rostov in Russia. The evacuation, which began on Friday, has already seen thousands of civilians fleeing the fighting with Russian Emergencies Ministry establishing temporary shelters for the refugee. On Saturday, both self-proclaimed republics launched a mobilization of all able-bodied men.
Comment: Earlier today, the Russian military reported that it killed 5 members of a Ukrainian "sabotage and recon group" attempting to cross into Russia in two combat vehicles. Ukraine denies this took place. They also denied that they have attacked Donetsk and Lugansk, so take that other denial with a grain of salt. Shortly after this, FSB director Bortnikov claimed that a Ukrainian soldier had been captured alive and is being held prisoner.
Ukraine started this war. Their masters in the U.S. and NATO wanted this. But no one predicted that Putin would recognize DPR and LPR's independence. That makes it official. The Minsk agreements are dead. Russia has been holding out for years, but Kiev has failed to implement ANY of their obligations. This just makes official what was de facto already the case. Though with the decision to send peacekeepers, the entire managerial class in the West now have the excuse they need to pat themselves on the back for predicting another "Russian invasion." We guess they'll get to find out if a war is really what they wanted after all - if it comes to that.