Lt. Gen. Viktor Murzhenko (L), Ukrainian commander-in-chief, at a meeting January 18, 2017 of NATO's Military Committee, chaired by Gen. Petr Pavel (R). Photo via Facebook
Ukraine Day 1069: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. One Ukrainian soldier was killed in battle in the past day.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
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In the past 24 hours, there were no casualties, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk reported at his daily briefing, Liga.net reported. Meanwhile, the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] reported at 18:00 last night that one Ukrainian soldier was killed.
Russia-backed militants attacked Ukrainian positions 25 times, using 82-mm mortars on the Donetsk line and grenade-launchers and small arts on the Mariupol line, he said.
The ATO reported this evening that there were 33 attacks in the past day.
On the Mariupol line, the ATO reported firing on Pavlopol, Lebedinskoye, Granitnoye, Novogrigoryevka, Vodyanoye, Talakovka, and Shirokino. A sniper fired on Lebedinskoye.
On the Donetsk line, militants fired from grenade-launchers and firearms on Avdeyevka, Zaytsevo and Novgorodskoye.
On the Lugansk line, they fired from mortar-launchers on Troitskoye and from grenade-launchers and small arms on Novoaleksandrovka, Valuyskoye and Novozanovka.
The ATO also reported today that as a result of a traffic accident in Mariupol, one Ukrainian soldier was killed when a driver lost control of his car, Liga.net reported. A second soldier was hospitalized in serious condition.
According to Liga.net, the ATO press center commented on the incident yesterday in which a civilian bus fell under fire in Olenivka [Yelenovka], and a civilian was wounded, as we reported; separatists claimed that Ukrainian forces were to blame.
The route of the bus from Olenivka to Donetsk and the line of contact, with Ukrainian positions on the left and separatist on the right. From Military Maps.
The ATO said that Russia-backed militants had fired on the bus, and their involvement was indicated because the bus was headed northeast along the line of contact from Yelenovka toward Donetsk, and the bullet holes were on the driver’s side, where the militants’ position was. The ATO said the incident was a “provocation” to discredit Ukrainian forces while the deputy head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission was in the area.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
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