Russia-Backed Forces Fire Grad Missiles; 1 Ukrainian Soldier Wounded

Russia-backed forces fire Grad missiles on towns near the front line, October 3, 2017. Photo by ATO

Ukraine Day 1324: LIVE UPDATES BELOW. Russia-backed forces fired Grad missiles, setting fields on fire. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded.

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

An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlinâ€™s Dirty War in Ukraine

Russia-Backed Forces Fire Grad Missiles; 1 Ukrainian Soldier Wounded; Ukrainian Soldiers Kill Civilian in Schastye

2017-10-05 13:33:17

Grad missiles fired by Russia-backed forces set fields on fire near the front line. Photo by ATO

Russia-backed forces concentrated their fire on the Maritime line, with a total of 22 attacks across the front line. One Ukrainian soldier was reportedly wounded. Militants used mortar-launchers and other weapons banned under the Minsk agreement.

On the Maritime line, Shirokino was attacked with Partizan Grad missiles and heavy machine guns. Nearby, 82-mm mortars were also fired. At Talakovka, Grads were also fired on the Ukrainian position.

The Ukrainian side of the Joint Centre for Coordination and Control reported on Grad shells and damage they had found.

In the evening, twice, militants fired 120-mm artillery on the residential sector of Vodyanoye.

On the Donetsk line, grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns were fired on the approaches to Avdeyevka and Nevelskoye. ATO positions at the Butovka mine, Zaytsevo and Mayorsk were also attacked.

On the Lugansk line, grenade-launchers and small arms were fired on Tryokhizbenka. Ukrainian fighters returned fire.

OSCE reported October 3 that on September 6 in the city of Schastye in Lugansk Region, Ukrainian soldiers fired on a person who later died in a hospital, Liga.net reported.

According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Report of October 2:

A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer in government-controlled Starobilsk (85km north of Luhansk) told the SMM that a man had been shot on 6 September while crossing the Shchastia bridge. Previously, a Ukrainian Armed Forces officer of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) had told the SMM that, on 6 September, a man had been shot by the Ukrainian Armed Forces while crossing the Shchastia bridge. Medical staff at a hospital in Shchastia told the SMM that the man had been brought to the hospital by Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers on 6 September and had died from severe haemorrhage, adding that the man had three wounds in the lower part of his body.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick