6 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in Action; 2 Russia-backed Militants Killed, 3 Injured; 2 Schools Damaged

School damaged from shelling by Russia-backed forces in Maryinka in southern Ukraine March 14, 2016. Photo by ATO.

Ukraine Day 1002: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. Heavy fighting continued in southeastern Ukraine today, on par with the escalation in the last week, with 6 Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Avdeyevka, northwest of Donetsk. There were unconfirmed reports of 3 Russia-backed fighters killed and 2 wounded.

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6 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in Action; 2 Russia-backed Militants Killed, 3 Injured; 2 Schools Damaged

2016-11-15 19:01:50

Heavy fighting continued in southeastern Ukraine today, on par with the escalation in the last week, with 6 Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Avdeyevka, northwest of Donetsk, according to Col. Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

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Col. Motuzyanyk also reported that 2 Russia-backed militants were killed and 3 wounded in action.

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The self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) did not report the casualties, although a source within the DNR defense ministry said Ukrainian forces fired on the towns of Leninskoye, Kominterno and Vasilevka in the Yasinovatsky District with heavy artillery, the DNR news service DAN-Info reported.

According to Eduard Basurin, the self-styled “defense minister” of the DNR, in a briefing today, the Ukrainian military is using artillery banned under the Minsk agreement.

He claimed three 120-mm artillery and 6 mortar-launching positions were discovered near Novoselovka and Vtoraya, four kilometers from the front near Yasinovataya and Maryinka and a kilometer from the line of contact.

Meanwhile, the ATO [Anti-Terrorism Operation] reported that two school buildings in Maryinka were damaged by militants’ shelling.

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In a statement on its Facebook page, the ATO said since midnight yesterday to 18:00 today, Russia-backed forces had fired 24 times on Ukrainian positions, mainly on the Mariupol line including Shirokono, Talakovka, Slavnoye, Vodyanoye, Krasnogorovka, and Lebedinskoye. A sniper was active in Pavlopol.

On the Donetsk line, there was militant firing on Luganskoye and Avdeyevka; Novozvanovka was also attacked.

The ATO also noted in a separate post that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission had reported the use of Grad RSZO BM-21 missiles during the period from November 4-13; specifically the hearing of what sounded like Grads firing near Kadiyevka (formerly Stakhanov).

The ATO said the both sides of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination did not confirm the use of Grads, and that at night time, with a certain positioning of the surveillance camera, firing from a 30-mm automatic cannon on a BMP-2 could sound like Grad missile firing.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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