One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 21 wounded in the last day, Unian.net reported. An AFP contributor has been wounded after his house in Donetsk came under shelling and he was briefly hospitalized.
Six Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours, military spokesmen said in a briefing today, Reuters reported.
An intense fire was reported today north-east of Donetsk after a gas pipeline was ruptured by mortar shelling. The broken section of pipeline lies between Krasnogorovka, Novobakhmutovka and Novokalinovo, near Avdeyevka.
Ukrainska Pravda reports that they have been told by the head of the ATO Press Centre, Aleksandr Poronyuk, that the situation in Marinka is, as of 18:20 (15:20 GMT) “stabilising.”
A Facebook page posting reports from Russian-backed fighters that carries the name of Igor Girkin, the former Russian intelligence officer who led the military operation in Slavyansk, has posted a claim that Russian-backed fighters now control the majority of Marinka.
According to a group on the Russian social media VKontakte called “Svodki Novorossii” (Novorossiya Dispatches, formerly called “Strelkov’s Dispatches”), Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov visited Donetsk to berate the leaders of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR), dialog.ua reported.
Donetsk news site 62.ua reports that Aleksandr Poronyuk, chief of the ATO Press Centre, has announced that Russian-backed fighters have begun a second wave of attacks on Ukrainian positions in Marinka.
Reuters reports that two mines in the Donetsk region, Zasyadko and Skochinsky, have both had their power cut by heavy shelling. While the Russian-backed separatists said that they were evacuating 350 trapped miners in Skochinsky, they also report that 576 miners are trapped without light in the Zasyadko mine.
Mashable’s Christopher Miller has this important report:
RFE/RL provides a summary of statements from both Ukrainian and separatist leaders, both of whom report major fighting around Marinka (Maryinka), south-west of Donetsk:
