3 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed, 8 Wounded on the Front Line

Building destroyed by Russia-backed shelling at the front line. Screen grab from video by Ukrainian military TV March 20, 2017.

Ukraine Day 1127: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 8 were wounded in battles today.

Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

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3 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed, 8 Wounded on the Front Line

2017-03-21 05:38:22

Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 8 were wounded in battles today, Liga.net reported, citing the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] dispatch at 18:00. Most of the attacks with heavy artillery were in the Mariupol area.

Ukrainian forces clashed with Russian-backed militants at 9:30 am near Vodyanoye; the militants fired Grad missiles and 122-mm and 152-mm artillery. They also fired from BMPs and used mortar-launchers.

On the Donetsk line in the Avdeyevka area, militants fired from heavy machine guns and also a tank. The Butovka mine was attacked with 120-mm mortar-launchers, and Luganskoye with automatic grenade-launchers.

On the Lugansk line, militants fired near Troitskoye with 82-mm and 120-mm mortar launchers as well as automatic grenade-launchers and machine guns. An anti-tank missile system was used to attack Tryokhizbenka and SPGs were used on Novozvanovka and Krymskoye.

Ukrainian military TV uploaded a video of shelling from Russia-backed tank gunners on the Butovka mine. One soldier noted that the gunners shooting at Ukrainian positions weren’t inexperienced coal-miners but well-trained, and fired deliberately at residential areas such as Avdeyevka. Another military video shows the shelling of Vodyanoye.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick