3 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded in Action; 4 Civilians Killed Due to Russia-Backed Shelling in Avdeyevka

As a result of Russia-backed shelling of the civilian area of Avdeyevka, four civilians were killed and one severely wounded, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing Pavlo Zhebrivskiy, head of the Donetsk Military and Civilian Administration on his Facebook page.

He said 3 women and 1 man were killed in the yard of a home near Sapronova Street. Natalay Shiman, spokesperson for the Donetsk Region Police said more precisely the shell landed in the yard of a home at No. 53 Pionerskaya Street. The owner of the home and three guests died of shrapnel wounds. Two children who were nearby were not harmed. They have now been left orphans.

President Petro Poroshenko did not attend the finale of EuroVision due to the deaths in Avdeyevka, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing a statement on Poroshenko’s Facebook.

The separatist news service DAN-Info claimed that Right Sector fired on Avdeyevka as a “provocation” in order to blame the attack on the forces of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Iryna Gerashchenko, deputy speaker of the Ukrainska Rada and member of the Trilateral Contact Group’s sub-group on humanitarian affairs said on her Facebook page she believed it the attack on Avdeyevka’s civilians was a cynical act ti,ed to the finale of the EuroVision contest.

In its morning dispatch, the ATO reported 54 attacks in the previous reporting period, and the wounding of 3 Ukrainian soldiers.

On the Maritime line, militants fired on Shirokino, Vodyanoye, Pavlopol, Granitnoye, Gnutovo, Chermalyk and Novotroitskoye using mainly small arms, heavy machine guns and grenade-launches. Snipers were active in some areas. At Shirokino, 82-mm mortars and an armed BMP were used to attack the marines’ positions; 82-mm mortars were also used near Maryinka and Krasnogorovka. Near Talakovka, 122-mm mortars were fired.

On the Donetsk line, militants fired 82-mm and 120-mm mortars on Ukrainian military positions at Novoluganskoye and Luganskoye; 82-mm mortars pounded Avdeyevka and Kamenki. Grenade-launchers, heavy-machine guns and small arms were used to attack Peski, Verkhnyetoretskoye and Novgorodskoye.

On the Lugansk line, militants fired grenade-launchers at Ukrainian soldiers at Novoaleksandrovka and Krymskoye. Near Novozvanovka, militants fired heavy machine guns, automatic grenade-launchers and 120-mm mortars. Near Novotoshkovskoye, 82-mm mortars, heavy machine guns and small arms were used to attack Novotoshkovskoye.

The organizer of the attack on Tetiana Chornovil in 2013 has been arrested by the Pechera Court in Kiev, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the National Police.

The suspect was earlier arrested in Minsk and extradited to Ukraine.

Police say the suspect and four other persons planned to murder Chornovil, an investigative journalist and activist and make the assassination look like a car accident. They chased her car, forced her to stop, then beat her severely, after which they fled the scene.

Athough the suspect has not been named, he is believed to be Oleg Netrebko, 47, a mafia kingpin from Dneprodzerzhinsk, known as “Netrik”.

There was some confusion that he was Australian because he had an Australian flag draped over his shoulders. But he was identified as Vitalii Sediuk, who has pulled a dozen such pranks over the years with famous people such as Madonna.