Four Ukrainian Soldiers Killed, Seven Wounded in Battle in Last 2 Days; 3 Killed in Training in Last Week

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and seven wounded in the previously reporting period, Liga.net reported, citing the ATO.

Later today, the ATO reported that three Ukrainian soldiers were killed as they tried to evacuate a wounded fellow servicemen from the Svetlodarsk Bulge, Liga.net reported, citing an ATO dispatch. One wounded man prepared a grenade in the event he was captured but he died of his wounds.

The Ukrainian army was not yet able to retrieve the bodies due to heavy shell fire. The ATO denied the rumors that the soldiers killed were in a diversionary and reconnaissance group.

The ATO reported another death of a soldier during training, Liga.net reported.

Reports indicate that he was killed from shrapnel wounds to his head and neck in “an imitation explosion”. 

On April 26, two soldiers in the 54th Separate Mechanized Birgade were killed during training at the Chuguyev Training Grounds in Kharkiv Region from gunfire, Liga.net reported.

Russia-backed forces attacked Ukrainian positions 63 times in the past reporting period. 

On the Maritime line, 120-mortars, an armed BMP, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms were fired on Vodyanoye; 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns were fired on Krasnogorovka. Militants fired 82-mm mortars, anti-aircraft ZU-23-2 systems, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arts on Gnutovo and used 82-mm mortars on positions at Slavnoye. Near Shiokino, militants attacked Novotroiskoye with grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns and Ukrainian positions near Pavlopol and Maryinka were attacked with grenade-launchers. The marines near Lebedinskoye were attacked with heavy machine guns and small arms and small arms were fired on positions near Chermnalyk. Snipers were active near Gnutovo and Novotroitskoye.

On the Donetsk line, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars, grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms were fired on positions near Avdeyevka. Militants pounded Ukrainian positions near Luganskoye with 120-mm mortar-launchers, and used small arms and 82-mm mortars as well as heavy machine guns near the Butovka coal mine and Kamenki. At Troitskoye, 82-mm mortars, automatic grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were used. In the Avdeyevka area, snipers were active.

On the Lugansk line, 82-mm and 120-mm mortars were fired along with grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns near Krymskoye and Novozvanovka; 82-mm mortars were fired near Yekaterinovka; and 82-mm mortars, anti-tank grenades and heavy machine guns were fired on positions at Troitskoye. Militans pounded positions near Novoaleksandrovks with grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns and fired anti-tank grenades at positions at Valuyskoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya.

o Kiev ‘Spy’ Sentenced to 18 Years of Prison

The military tribunal of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) sentenced a Donetsk resident to 18 year of imprisonment for “espionage in favor of Ukraine,” the separatist news service DAN-News reported, citing the DNR prosecutor general’s office.

The name of the accused man was not provided. It was claimed that he collected and transmitted reports to Ukrainian military intelligence [GUR] about the location of checkpoints, the number of soldiers, and types of military armor in the possession of the DNR armed forces.

“The information collected, and also photographs and diagrams with the help of an electronic address via the Internet were transmitted for material compensation to the GUR for use against the security of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” said the tribunal. 

From 2015-2017, the DNR has opened 15 cases of espionage and six people have already been sentenced so far under them.

o Kiev Turns Off Power to Lugansk

On April 25, Ukraine totally shut off power to the part of Lugansk Region occupied by Russia-backed troops, Vsevolod Kovalchuk, acting head of the state power company Ukrenergo, Unian announced.

In the past, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers enacted a law obliging the regional power campaign to supply occupied Lugansk, regardless of the level of payment. But the debt continued to grow as power was supplied but not paid for. Kiev continued to supply power out of humanitarian concerns 

However, by December 2016, the mounting debt reached 124 million hryvnias ($4.7 million). Popasnyanskiy District Water Canal which supplies certain districts in Donetsk and Lugansk Region and struggles with its own revenue problems then ceased to provide power to the LNR April 25. Officials believe they cannot be expected to go on paying the bills of a region that is at war with them — and insists on its own independence.

This left more than half a million residents of the separatist-held areas without power. Immediately, the Kremlin began claiming that Ukraine was “pushing away this territory”. Russia then decided to pay for the LNR, which costs some $35-44 million.

The supply will be booked as “technological losses” by the Russian Federal Network Company, Kommersant reported. There has been some concern that this will in turn lead to rate hikes for ordinary Russians.

 — Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

Note: The Interpreter has lost its funding!

Donate to this author to keep news and translations coming.