2 Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded; 3 Russian Soldiers Killed, 2 Wounded in Fighting in Donbass

The situation remains “tense but under control” on the front line, the Ukrainian ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] reported on its Facebook page.

Early this morning, the ATO reported that Russian-backed forces fired 61 times on Ukrainian positions in the last day; 28 on the Mariupol line, 24 on the Doentsk line and 9 in Lugansk Region.

The areas targeted included Maryinka, Shirokino, Lebedinskoye, and Starognatovka along the Mariupol line, where grenade-launchers and firearms were used, and Krasnogorovka, Taramchuk, Talakovka, Vodyanoye and 

Chermalyk where artillery was used.

Near Optynoye, Verknetoreskoye and Luganskoye, firearms and heavy artillery were used as well as grenade-launchers, and 82-mm artillery was used near Zaytsev and Mayorsk.

From Yasinovataya and Mineralnye, Militants fired 122mm artillery as well as weapons on a  MP, grenade-launchers and various caliber artillery at Peski as well as Avdeyevka and the Butovka coal mine. 

Popasnaya and Novozanovka were also hit from firearms, machine guns, grenade-launchers and then mortars. 

Ukrainian positions near Novoaleksandrovka and Novozvanovka were targeted and militants tried to provoke Ukrainian forces into firing.

Later at noon, the ATO reported 26 incidents of firing on their positions, 14 on the Donetsk line at Zaytsevo, Mayorsk, Kirovo, and Leninskoye from grenade-launchers and artillery including 122-mm systems and 6 on the Mariupol and Lugansk lines at Troitskoye, Luganskoye, Maryinka, Novotroitskoye and Shirokino and Taramchuk, where militants used 82-mm artillery. Militants fired on Avdeyevka from 122-mm self-propelled artillery, and used artillery on Popasnaya, Zolotoye, and Novozvanovka. Ukrainian soldiers returned fire in some cases.

Eduard Basurin, defense minister for the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” claimed Ukrainian forces had fired 482 times at Zaystevo, Gorlovka, Yasinovataya, Spartak, Staramikhailovka, Dukychayevsk, Leninsk, Sakha, Kominternovo, Zayichenko and the Petrovsk District and airport in Donetsk. Ten homes were said to be damaged as a result. As usual, these large number of shellings claimed could not be independently confirmed and did not track with OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reports.

Kiev officials claim that 26 Russian soldiers were killed in fighting in the Donbass, and their bodies were removed from the Donetsk morgue and transported to Russia on June 23, Ukraine Today reports.

Ukrainian presidential administration spokesman Andriy Lysenko said 3 Russian soldiers were killed and 2 wounded on June 24. He said 2 Ukrainian soldiers were also wounded in the past 24 hours.

– Ukraine is planning a “hard reaction” to the plans of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the initiative of its president Pedro Agramunt to return the Russian delegation to its midst, Unian reported, citing Irina Gerashchenko on her Facebook page (translation by The Interpreter):

Agramunt attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week.

Recently the bureau of PACE passed a declaration on the need to renew dialogue with the Russian Federation Council or upper house of parliament.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick