9 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in Battle; 2 Civilian Women Injured from Russia-Backed Shelling

Russia-backed forces have stepped up the number and severity of attacks on Ukrainian positions, using heavier weapons, including Grad missiles.

Two civilian women, ages 55 and 81, suffered shrapnel wounds as a result of Russia-backed shelling of the town of Avdeyevka (Avdiivka) this morning, Liga.net reported, citing Vyacheslav Abroskin, head of the National Police in Donetsk Region, on his Facebook page. The women were taken to the central district hospital and were in satisfactory condition. Three homes on Sportivnaya St. in Avdeyevka were damaged. 

The Ukrainian military TV uploaded a video on the situation in Peski on May 4.

They also uploaded a video about the difficulties for pensioners living near the front line as their homes are attacked. The elderly woman brought to the hospital today describes how her home was shelled and she suffered leg wounds and fell down.

Russia-backed militants fired on Maryinka as well as Avdeyevka using 82-mm mortars, Liga.net reported, citing the ATO morning dispatch. They shelled Avdeyevka from the town of Yakovlevka.

As a result of shelling in Maryinka, a car parked in the yard of a home at No. 214 Prokofyeva Street was damaged, Liga.net reported. Militants fired 82-mm mortars from the town of Trudovsky.

In its morning dispatch, the ATO reported 52 attacks in the previous reporting period.

On the Donetsk line, militants fired from a tank, 82-mm and 120-mm mortar-launchers anti-tank missile systems, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns around Avdeyevka; 82-mm mortars, an armed BMP, grenade-launchers and machine guns were used around Peski. Near Luganskoye, 120-mm mortars and an armed BMP were used. Militants fired 82-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns on Ukrainian positions at Kamenki and 82-mm mortars, anti-tank missiles, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns at the Butovka mine.

Near Troitskoye and Verknyetoretskoye, 82-mm mortars and grenade-launchers were used; near Zaytsevo, grenade-launchers and small arms were fired on Ukrainian positions. Near Peski, snipers were active.

On the Maritime line, 82-mm and 122-mm artillery were used, an armed BMP, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms in attacks on Vodyanoye; 82-mm and 120-mm, heavy machine guns and small arms were also used on Pavlopol. Militants fired 120-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns on Gnutovo and a mobile Partizan Grad system, 82-mm mortars, and an armed BMP were fired on Ukrainian defenders of Shirokino. At Krasnogorovka, 82-mm mortars were fired, and nar Maryinka, grenade-launchers and machine guns. Near Vodyanoye, Novotroitskoye and Novomaikhailovka snipers were active.

On the Lugansk line, 120-mm mortars pounded Krymskoye; 82-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and machine guns were fired near Novozvanovka and Novoaleksandrovka. Militans fired from an armed BMP on Novoaleksandrovka and from automatic grenade-launchers at Troitskoye. Grenade-launchers and small arms were fired on Stanitsa Luganskaya and Lobacheva. Near Novoaleksandrovka, snipers were active. 

In its evening dispatch, the ATO reported 24 attacks during the day and 3 Ukrainian soldiers wounded.

On the Lugansk line, militants used 120-mm and 122-mm artillery to attack Popasnaya. Anti-tank missiles and automatic grenade-launchers were used to attack Novozvanovka, and heavy machine gounds were fired at Krymskoye. Small arms were fired on Valuyskoye.

On the Lugansk line, 120-mm mortars and heavy machine guns were fired on Luganskoye, and 82-mm mortars and anti-tank grenades on Zaytsevo. At Avdeyevka and the Butovka mie, 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns were deployed.

On the Maritime line, 82-mm mortars pounded Gnutovo; 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms were fired on Maryinka and anti-tank grenades on Pavlopol, Boganovka and Krasnogorovka. Small arms and heavy machines guns were fired on the marines at Vodyanoye. Small arms were used to attack Novoselovka Vtoraya.

– Authorities in Lviv evicted the Russian Cultural Center, while saying the move was “not an action against Russians in Lviv”.

– The US Congress barred military aid to the Azov battalion.

– A Ukrainian prosecutor said that if deposed president Viktor Yanukovich is found guilty at trial, Ukrainian law-enforcers could detain him in Russia and bring him to Ukraine. The prosecutor has requested life imprisonment for Yanukovych.

– The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained five Russian suspected Internet propagandists who are owners of web sites described as “anti-Ukrainian”. They said they were making calls for radical actions during the May holidays.

– Poroshenko signed a law providing more social benefits for Ukrainian soldiers, notably the families of those wounded or killed.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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