2 Ukrainian Soldiers Killed, 9 Wounded; 1 Civilian Wounded, 1 Killed in 2 Days in Donbass

On May 21, Russia-backed forces shelled an area where the Ukrainian OOS (United Forces Operation, formerly the ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation) was active, killing two Ukrainian soldiers and wounding nine, Liga.net reported.

Ukrainian forces reported killed 15 Russia-backed militants and wounded 13 during the same period.

Militants shelled the residential districts of Zaytsevo yesterday, May 21, wounding a 60-year-old woman, Liga.net reported.

Police said the woman was in her yard when she was struck, and was hospitalized in the Bakhmut hospital with trauma from an explosive.

Mikhail Semenchenko, a 36-year-old resident of Maryinka was killed in a shell attack May 21, Liga.net reported, citing a post from Pavlo Zhebrivskiy, head of the Donetsk Military and Region Civilian Administration

Semenchenko was in his yard when he was struck in a shelling attack by Russia-backed militants. Medics were summoned and pronounced him dead at the scene, but then were unable to remove his body as they fell under attack again.

On May 22, militants fired 82-, 120- and 122-mm artillery 30 times, Liga.net reported. Ukrainian forces  ran counter-sniper measures in Avdeyevka and Maryinka after which attacks on Ukrainian positions stopped.

On the previous day, May 21, militants drived to drive Ukrainian troops out of Yuzhnoye, which had been earlier liberated, attacking from three directions. They also sowed panic among civilians in Gorlovka and fired on the city of Toretskoye, and fired 13 shells on Zaytsevo.

On the Lugansk line, militants fired on Troitskoye. On the Maritime line, fighting continued at Chermayk, Vodyanoye and Shirokino. The OOS kept up active defense of Zaytsevo, Luganskoye, Novoluganskoye, Mayorsk, Shumy, Zheleznoye, Yuzhnoye, Novgorodskoye, Avdeyevka, Maryinka and Novognatovka.

Russia-backed forces are changing their tactics, Liga.net reports, citing Dmitry Snegirev, head of the civic group Prava sprava (Rights from the Right). They are firing on Ukrainian forces’ positions from civilian areas in the hope there will be no return fire as a result; if there is, they can endanger civilians and blame Ukrainian forces. Militants have reportedly located armored vehicles near homes in Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported May 16 that a drone spotted a T-64 tank in the residential area of Verkhnyeshirokovskoye, 85 km to the south of Donetsk; a T-72 at Pikuzy (92 km to the south of Donetsk); and also two T-72s and three self-propelled Howitzers at Bezymyonnoye (100 km to the south of Donetsk). The T-72 tanks are made in Russia.

 

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick