1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed By Mine; NATO Secretary General Urges Russia to Withdraw Forces, Support

A Ukrainian soldier was killed from a mine in Lugansk region near Stanitsa Luganskaya, Liga.net reported, citing a dispatch from the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation].

There were 22 attacks from Russia-backed forces in the previous reporting period, most of which were on the Mariupol line. Grenade-launchers were fired on Novomikhailovka and Beryozovoye, and heavy machine guns and an armed BMP were fired on Shirokino. Talakovka and Maryinka were also struck by machine gun.

Ukrainian forces returned fire, the ATO reported.

On the Lugansk line, militants fired from 82-mm mortar launchers on Malinovoye and Katerinovka; Ukrainian positions were also struck at Novotoshkovskoye and Novozvanovka.

On the Donetsk line, Avdeyevka was attacked from Yasinovataya with grenade-launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms.

The ATO said residential areas of Maryinka were attacked with automatic grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns, Liga.net reported. A number of homes were damaged on Geroyev Chernobylya St. and Prokofyeva St. There were no casualties.

OSCE monitors tracked trucks moving through Stanitsya Luganskaya on July 8, Liga.net reported. The team spotted one truck that had turned over near the bridge which had two machine guns, one heavy machine gun and 20 armed militants on board.

In other news:

o Russia Denounces Testimony of Captured Russian Soldier As “Fake” 

Russia has declared as “fake” the statement by a Russian contract soldier captured by Ukrainian forces late last month, Liga.net reported.

The confession of Viktor Ageyev on a video tape is a collection of cut sections and contains prepared Ukrainian propagandistic words and phrases, Interfax reported Russia’s South Military District as saying.

In the video statement, Ageyev said he was a contract soldier, which Russian officials deny.

They further noted that the unit from with the soldier was said to come, No. 65246, does not exist, although independent research has shown this is likely a “ghost” unit that authorities evidently have disguised, to use to deploy troops to Ukraine. Russian Four Square shows check-ins at this unit, in Novocherkassk.

The Russian Defense Ministry denied that it had troops in Lugansk Region.

o NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg Urges Withdrawal of Russian Troops from Ukraine 

NATO Secretary General Jans Stoltenberg said during a visit to Kiev July 10 that the Minsk agreements were not being fulfilled, and that NATO was concerned about the growth in threats to the OSCE observers. He also said that while the Minsk agreement were the “only path to peace”:

Russia must withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Ukraine and stop supporting the militants, with command and control, and military equipment. 

He also said NATO would work with Ukraine on reforms to meet membership standards by 2020 and continue to provide assistance:

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick

Note: The Interpreter has lost its funding!

Donate to this author to keep news and translations coming.