A Ukrainian soldier near the front lane in February 2017. Photo by Reuters
Ukraine Day 1091: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
- READ OUR SPECIAL REPORT:
An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
2 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in Battles Near Mariupol; 2 Scouts Still Missing
As of 18:00 Kiev time, the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] reported no casualties among Ukrainian troops in the previous 24 hours, although there were 33 attacks from Russia-backed militants during the day and 52 in the previous day.
But the Col. Oleksandr Motuzyanik,Defense Ministry spokesman, reported that there had been 2 Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Vodyanoye and Shirokino near Mariupol
Fighting at the industrial zone outside of Avdeyevka continued for 8 hours today, Liga reported.
On the Mariupol line, militants fired on Pavlopol and Krasnogorovka with 82-mm mortar-launchers. The used grenade-launchers and small arms on Pavlopol, Novotroitskoye, Lebedinskoye, Vodyanoye and Shirokino. A sniper fired on Novotroitskoye and a BMP fired on Novogrigoryevka.
On the Donetsk line, there were attacks on Verkhnyetoretskoye and Avdeyevka with mortar-launchers and attacks on Novoselovka Vtoraya, Kamenka and Luganskoye with grenade-launchers and small arms. A BMP fired on positions near Avdeyevka. Snipers fired on Troitskoye, Novoselovka Vtoraya and Kamenets.
On the Lugansk line, grenade-launchers were used to attack Novoaleksandrovka.
Two Ukrainian scounts who went missing yesterday in Lugansk region have still not been found, Liga reported, citing the Ukrainian military operations and tactical group of which they were members.
Aleksandr Khodakovsky, head of the Vostok battalion of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” said DNR forces had still not picked up the bodies of their fallen comrades from battles near Avdeyevka earlier this month, Gordon reported, citing Khodakovsky’s Vkontake page.
In an angry message directed to Aleksandr Zakharchenko, head of the DNR, Khodakovsky wrote:
“I urge you to report to Zakharchenko if he does not know that people who were killed in battle…are laying there still, abandoned and forgotten…There is no problem to gather your efforts and bring back our guys from their last stand — just be humans and have at least a little conscience.”
Christopher Nunn, the British photo journalist wounded February 2 while covering the war in Avdeyevka says that Ukrainian doctors were able to save his left eye following surgery for shrapnel wounds, Gordon reported, citing his Facebook page. He will still require some time to recover his vision.
Nunn was injured by a shell that came into the window of the apartment of a Ukrainian woman, Elena, where he was staying. She was killed, and left behind a 9-year-old son, for whom Nunn is now collecting funds. Nunn’s fixer, Vladimir, was also injured in the attack.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick