1 Ukrainian Soldier KIA and 6 WIA; 3 Russia-backed Militants KIA, 7 WIA; Victim of Mar 23 Balakliya Blast Dies

Ukrainian soldiers near the front line at Novotroitskoye. Screen grab from Ukrainian military TV

Ukraine Day 1165: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. One Ukrainian soldier was killed in action and six wounded, Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported. Ukrainian military intelligence also claimed that 3 Russia-backed militants were killed and 7 wounded.

Yesterday’s coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

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1 Ukrainian Soldier KIA and 6 WIA; 3 Russia-backed Militans KIA, 7 WIA; Victim of Mar 23 Balakleya Blast Dies

2017-04-28 05:24:28

Ukrainian soldiers at the front line in a bunker near Novotroits’ke/Novotroitskoye. Screen grab from Ukrainian military TV.

Col. Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, Ukrainian Defense MInistry spokesman on the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation said at a briefing today that that one Ukrainian soldier was killed in action and six wounded, Ukraine Crisis Media Center reported.

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In its evening dispatch the ATO reported another Ukrainian soldier was wounded.

According Ukrainian military intelligence, three militants were killed by ATO troops’ return fire, and seven more were wounded.

UA Crisis reported:

The geography of the militants’ combat activity in Donetsk sector remained almost unchanged, expect for the Svitlodarsk area. “South of the Horlivka perimeter was the most intense flashpoint in this sector yesterday. Hostile sniper was active in Novhorodske after midnight,” said the spokesman. In Verkhniotoretske Russian proxies were active in the evening and fired about 30 mortar rounds before midnight.

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2017-04-28 06:45:07

In its morning dispatch, the ATO reported 1 Ukrainian soldier killed and 6 wounded in the previous reporting period.

On the Maritime line, 120-mm mortars, an armed BMP and BTR were used as well as grenade-launchers and small arms to attack Shirokino. Militants used 82-mm mortars, an armed BMP, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns on Vodyanoye; 82-mm mortars were fired on Ukrainian positions at Beryozovoye. Positions at Maryinka were shelled by an armed BMP, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms, and Ukrainian forces were attacked with grenade-launchers and small arms in Krasnogorovka, Novotroitskoye an Pavlopol. Heavy machine guns were fired at Gnutovo by militants and small arms were fired on Chermalyk. Snipers were active in the area of Maryinka.

On the Donetsk line, 82-m mortars, heavy machine guns, and grenade launchers were fired on Troitskoye; 82-mm mortars, heavy machine guns and small arms were used to attack Verkhnyetoretskoye. At Avdeyevka, 82-mm mortar-launchers were fired along with gnreade-launchers and heavy machine guns, and at Peski, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were used. Grenade-launchers and small arms were used to attack Mayorsk and Novgoroskoye. Also snipers were active at Novogordskoye.

On the Lugansk line, 120-mm mortar-launchers were fired on Novoaleksandrovka and 120-mm at Popasnyaya. Militants attacked Troitskoye with 82-mm mortars, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns; grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were used on Novozvanovka and grenade-launchers and smarll arms were used on Stanitsa Luganskaya.

During the day, Russia-backed forces fired 19 times on Ukrainian positions.

On the Maritime line, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars were fired at the marines in Vodyanoye as well as an armed BMP and heavy machine guns; 82-mm mortars, an armed BMP and anti-tank grenades pounded defenders of Maryinka. Near Krasnogorovka, militants fired anti-tank grenades and heavy machine guns. Small arms were fired in Gnutovo. Near Pavlopol and Maryinka, snipers were active.

On the Donetsk line, 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns were fired on Avdeyevka. Near Mironovskoye, 82-mm mortars, an armed BMP, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were fire; they were also fired on positions in Troitskoye and Kamenki.

On the Lugansk line, militants fired on Luganskoye and Sizoye with grenade-launchers; small arms were fired on Valuyskoye.

Meanwhile, the pro-separatist Donetsk News Agency Dan-Info reported that Russia-backed separatists said Ukrainian forces fired on their positions at Dokuchayevsk and damaged a multi-floor apartment building. They did not confirm the casualties reported by the Ukrainian military.

DAN-Info also reported that Ukrainian forces had fired on a water repair truck from the South Donbass Pump Station. Bullets damaged the vehicles and tore the shirt of one worker in the vehicle but there were no injuries.

o Another Victim of Balakliya Blast Dies of Injuries

A 55-year-old woman who was injured in the March 23 Balakliya munitions depot blast died in a local hospital, Gordonua.com reported.

Thus the number of casualties from that incident has risen to two; on March 24, the Emergencies Ministry reported that they had found the body of a woman under the rubble.

Most of the 36,000 people who lived within a 10-km radius of the blast were evacuated. Five homes were destroyed and 243 were damaged. The prosecutor general Anatoly Matios believes that the fire was deliberately set by a saboteur.

o Ukrainian Debt Rises to Equivalent of $72 Billion

The state guaranteed debt of Ukraine rose by the equivalent of $1.38 billion dollars or 1.9% to $72.35 billion, Unian reported.

Last year, the debt rose by 8.3% to $70.97 billion. The state budget for 2017 proposed to have the debt not rise higher than 2.296 trillion hryvnia.

Meanwhile, Unian also reported that the Defense Ministry was reported a reduction in state purchase orders by a factor of 10, according to a speech by Ruslan Korzh at a defense forum.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

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