Homes and livestock damaged December 17, 2016 in Vodyanoye. Photo by 0629.com.ua
Ukraine Day 1034: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
One Ukrainian soldiers was injured in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
2 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded as Russia-Backed Forces Attack 52 Times, Focusing on Mariupol Area
Col. Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman for ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] affairs said at his briefing today that two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in artillery fire near the village of Nevelskoye, Liga.net reported.
Russia-backed forces fired on positions of the ATO 52 times, mainly concentrating on the Mariupol line.
The Mariupol city news site 0629.com.ua reported that fighters from the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) fired 120-mm artillery in the area of Naberezhnaya Street in the town of Vodyanoye, damaging several homes and killed a bull and 20 chickens, Vyacheslav Abroskin, head of the Donetsk Region police said on his Facebook page.
The site also published a list of “warm-up stations” where people could get shelter from the cold weather and some hot coffee or tea. Four or five people were hospitalized this week due to exposure.
At 18:00, the ATO reported 21 attacks in total, many on Krasnogorovka, Pavlopol, Lebedinskoy, and Shirokino as well as Vodyanoye with 122-mm and 162-mm artillery. Heavy machine guns and small arms were used on Talakovka, Pavlopol, Starognatovka and Shirokino.
On the Luganskoye line, militants fired mortar-launchers and grenade-launchers on Troitskoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya; anti-tank guided missiles were fired on Novozvanivtsi.
On the Donetsk line, there was firing from 122-mm artillery on Nevelskoye.
Self-styled deputy commander of the DNR command Eduard Basurin said the situation remained “tense” and said Ukrainian forces fired with 82-mm and 120-mm artillery as well as grenade launchers and an armed BMP on Dokuchayevsk, Yasinovataya, Vasilyevsk, Spartak, Krutaya Balka, Zaytsevo north of Gorlovka, Kominternovo, Sakhanka, Leninskoye, Oktyabr, Novaya Tavriya, Beymyonnoye in the south and also Aleksandrovka and Staromikhailovka west of Donetsk.
DNR forces also claimed that yesterday, December 16, Ukrainian forces fired on the Mayorsk checkpoint causing civilians to gather in the grey zone, although there were no injuries reported.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
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