Ukraine Live Day 574: Two Ukrainian Soldiers Killed, Two Wounded, One Missing

The Council of the European Union has extended sanctions against Russia, introduced in response to Russia’s actions against Ukraine, for a further six months.

The sanctions had been due to expire tomorrow, September 15 

An announcement on the Council’s website says:

The assessment of the situation did not justify a change in the regime of sanctions nor in the list of persons and entities under restrictive measures. One deceased person was removed from the list. 

The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans on 149 people and 37 entities. The full list is available to read here.

— Pierre Vaux

Ukrainska Pravda reports that the Lugansk regional Prosecutor’s Office has announced the arrest of a man suspected of having acted as the head of the separatists’ detention regime.

The man, reported to be a pensioner from Lugansk, was allegedly in charge of pre-trial detention (SIZO) at the ‘interior ministry’ of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR).

He has been charged under Ukraine’s anti-terrorism legislation and, if convicted, faces eight to ten years in prison.

— Pierre Vaux

The Ukrainian military claims today that the situation on the front line has become somewhat more strained over the last 24 hours.

Colonel Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, announced at noon today that two Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and two wounded over the previous 24 hours. Another soldier has disappeared, Lysenko added.

According to the ATO Press Centre, Russian-backed fighters conducted eight attacks yesterday, stepping up attacks on Ukrainian positions near Lozovoye, to the south-east of Artyomovsk.

At 21:15, 21:35 and 22:15, a Ukrainian fortified position to the north of the village were fired on with grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms. 

Colonel Lysenko said that Ukrainian troops had been engaged in an hour-long shoot-out near Luganskoye (Luhanske in Ukrainian), north of Lozovoye.

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Lysenko reported one small arms attack near Zaytsevo, which lies on the front line north of Golovka.

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In the Lugansk region, the Press Centre reports a grenade launcher attack on Ukrainian troops in Schastye at around 20:00. Two hours later, Russian-backed fighters fired on Ukrainian positions south of Sokolniki with grenade launchers.

Colonel Lysenko also reported that there had been a sniper attack near Marinka, west of Donetsk: 

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The military reports no attacks between midnight and 6 am today.

Meanwhile the pro-separatist Donetsk News Agency (DAN) reports that separatist-backed administrations in front line settlements of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) have reported no fighting overnight.

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