The situation on the contact line in the military operation zone in eastern Ukraine remains tense, and more than 50 shellings have been recorded over the past day alone, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said.

"The situation in the east [of the country] remains stably tense. Yesterday, 51 provocative shellings [were] conducted against our positions. This usually takes place before important meetings, and this is an attempt at exerting pressure on us so that we will take decisions dictated by Russia, representatives of DPR/LPR [self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics]. Certainly, these provocations were, are, and will be, futile," the minister said in a public report on the implementation of the program on the activity of the Ukrainian Cabinet of ministers in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Poltorak said that the shellings have always been waged with weapons, which under the Minsk agreements were to be withdrawn, particularly by mortars, with the actions by the Donbas militants unpredictable. "To any (even) unpredictable actions, our army is ready today – the numerical strength of the personnel and the training level allow [for the fulfillment of] actions to protect the country," he said.

The defense minister also said that previous information which reported that militants had been allowed to pass through Ukrainian checkpoints while posing as civilians in Shyrokyne, was untrue.