Ukraine Day 883: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
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
Seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 14 wounded in the last 24 hours.
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, told reporters today that most of the casualties were the result of shelling by Russian-backed forces.
Two were killed and three wounded in Krymskoye, a vulnerable Ukrainian-held village on the southern banks of the Seversky Donets river in the Lugansk region.
Volunteer Yuriy Mysyagin reported last night that the soldiers had been travelling in a BMP armoured personnel carrier when their vehicle was blown up by an explosive device. Russian-backed fighters then ambushed the troops
Colonel Lysenko said that four soldiers had been killed and two wounded in Zaytsevo, north of separatist-held Gorlovka.
Journalist Roman Bochkala wrote on his Facebook page yesterday that Russian-backed fighters had shelled Ukrainian positions between Mayorsk and Zaytsevo with mortars and heavy artillery at around 3 am. According to Bochkala, a third soldier was also wounded.
Lysenko said that the seventh soldier to be killed died in Vodyanoye, east of Mariupol. One other soldier was wounded here.
Military press officer Vitaliy Kirillov told Mariupol news site 0629.com.ua that Vodyanoye had been attacked twice with 82 mm mortars.
Kirllov also reported three attacks near Gnutovo, where Lysenko said that one soldier had been wounded.
0629.com.ua noted that there were rumours circulating on social media of much higher casualty figures – with up to 30 wounded.
Viktor Muzhenko, chief of Ukraine’s General Staff, wrote on his Facebook page today:
“One’s heart bleeds for every one of our soldiers’ lives sacrificed for Ukraine.
The response will be appropriate.”
According to this morning’s ATO Press Center report, Russian-backed fighters conducted 78 attacks yesterday.
122 mm artillery was reportedly used near Peski, northwest of Donetsk, and Mironovsky, east of Gorlovka, while mortar attacks were reported across the front line.
The Lugansk police report that one civilian was wounded in government-controlled Popasnaya.
According to the police, the 61-year-old man suffered shrapnel wounds to his abdomen after a mortar shell struck his home.
The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) accused Ukrainian forces of opening fire 623 times over 24 hours.
Eduard Basurin, deputy commander of the armed forces of the DNR, announced today that one Russian-backed fighter had been wounded as a result of Ukrainian mortar fire.
— Pierre Vaux