Washington considers shelling by pro-Russian armed formations of filtration stations in the east of Ukraine as a particularly dangerous incident, which could lead to chemical contamination of a significant territory with chlorine. This was stated on Tuesday by a spokesman for the U.S. State Department Heather Nauert in Washington, D.C., Ukrinform reports.
According to her, in eastern Ukraine two water filtration plants have been subjected to shelling in recent days. "It is considered especially dangerous because some shells have fallen as close to as 50 meters from chlorine gas storage tanks at the facilities. A hit on the tanks would cause a major catastrophe, gassing people at the plant, possibly even those in nearby towns, as well as disrupting the supply of clean drinking water in the area", - she said.
In her words, the Minsk peace agreements call for a full ceasefire along the line of contact, "a ceasefire that Russian-led forces have never fully respected".
In this regard, she appealed to the "Russian forces" to stop the fire and put an end to the firing of the filtration stations. The representative of the U.S. administration also stressed the need to withdraw heavy weapons to the positions established by previous agreements.
"We also urge Ukraine to show restraint and to do everything within its power to implement the Minsk agreements", - she added.