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Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
The Ukrainian military claims that civilians have been wounded after Russian-backed fighters shelled the village of Zaytsevo, north of separatist-held Gorlovka.
According to the ATO Press Center, Russian-backed fighters conducted eight attacks today with 120- and 82-mm mortars, striking homes in the village.
Gorlovka news site 06242.com.ua reports, citing locals, that fighting has intensified to the north of the town as darkness falls this evening.
Several residents have apparently reported tank fire, in addition to mortars and small arms.
— Pierre Vaux
Leviy Bereg‘s Oleksandr Rudomanov reports that a Ukrainian soldier has been killed by a sniper in Avdeyevka, north of Donetsk.
According to the report, the soldier, born in the Poltava region, was a member of the 16th Independent Mechanised Infantry Battalion.
Another soldier from this same battalion was wounded last night, Rudomanov writes.
— Pierre Vaux
Viktor Shokin, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, has returned to work following a month-long leave of absence and his reported resignation.
Ukrainska Pravda reported this morning, citing sources at the Prosecutor General’s Office, that Shokin came in today and was at work in his office.
Prosecutor Vladislav Kutsenko confirmed to the 112 television channel that Shokin’s official leave had ended yesterday and that the Prosecutor General was today “conducting workshops, receiving heads of departments, offices and other prosecutors.”
On February 19, President Petro Poroshenko’s press secretary, Svyatoslav Tsegolko confirmed that Shokin’s letter of resignation had been received.
Poroshenko publicly called for both Shokin and the prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, to resign earlier that week:
Today a legislative committee is due to consider a draft decree on Shokin’s dismissal, but the Prosecutor General himself does not intend to attend, Kutsenko said.
Shokin had long been criticised for obstructing the progress of reforms in the post-Maidan government, with his deputy, Vitaly Kasko, resigning in protest on February 15:
Six Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded south of Donetsk as Kiev claims that Russian-backed fighters have fired around a hundred mortar shells yesterday.
At a noon briefing today, Colonel Andriy Lysenko, a military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, told reporters that the casualties had been incurred near Novotroiskoye, a Ukrainian-held town on the highway between Donetsk and Mariupol.
According to the Ukrainian military, two attempts, supported by mortar fire, were made, one at around 10:00 and another at 17:00, to break through the Ukrainian lines in this area. Lysenko said that both attacks were repelled by Ukrainian fire.
This morning, the Ukrainian military’s ATO Press Centre reported a total of 42 attacks across the front line with around a hundred 120 and 82 mm mortar shells fired.
Particularly heavy fighting was seen to the north of Donetsk, with mortar fire directed at Ukrainian positions near Nevelskoye, Opytnoye, Avdeyevka and Novgorodskoye.
Heavy fighting was also reported in the Gorlovka area, near Zaytsevo and Svetlodarsk.
In the Lugansk region, the military reports attacks near Popasnaya and Troitskoye.
Attacks continued this morning, the military claims, with attacksnear Zaytsevo and Avdeyevka, where a tank shelled Ukrainian positions and civilian infrastructure.
The ‘defence ministry’ of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) claims meanwhile that Ukrainian forces conducted 38 attacks, firing 210 shells.
— Pierre Vaux