Ukraine Day 1118: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and one Russia-backed fighter was killed as fighting fails to subside in southeastern Ukraine.
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
The escalation of the war in southeastern Ukraine is now coming to the attention more of Western media.
Today, March 11, AFP reported:
Ukraine’s army reported Saturday two soldiers killed in clashes with Russian-backed rebels, in a new uptick in violence across eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters that two servicemen were killed and another 16 wounded in the past 24 hours, accusing insurgents of using heavy weapons against government troops.
A rebel spokesman in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic meanwhile said that one of its fighters had been killed, the rebels’ news agency reported.
The latest casualties along eastern Ukraine’s volatile frontline come despite the warring sides announcing a truce deal in February that has failed to stop the violence entirely.
The Donetsk News Agency (Dan-News), the pro-DNR news service, quoted self-styled deputy DNR ommander Eduard Basurin confirming that one DNR soldier was killed.
In its 6:00 am post, the ATO reported 107 incidents of shelling in the previous 12 hours. Two soldiers were killed, 9 troops were wounded, 7 were concussed in the previous period. At 18:00, 39 attacks were reported during the day, and there were no further casualties.
During the day, mortars were used to attack Boguslavskoye, Novoaleksandrovka, Katerinovka, Popasnyaya and Krymskoye.
Social media reports appeared of Russia-backed forces shelling an apartment building in Avdeyevka (Avdiivka).
Влад Маховский posted a video to his timeline.
In the video posted by the Facebook user Vlad Makhovskiy, a male voice recounts how people were inside the Church of the Awakening, when they heard shell fire and then recorded the shelling of the nearby apartment building as they prayed no one would be hurt. No casualties were reported.
Lugansk News Today geolocated the video. The green camera icon is on the Church of the Awakening.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick