Ukraine Day 896: 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
Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and six wounded in last 48 hours
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for Ukraine’s Presidential Administration, told reporters today that one soldier was killed by enemy fire outside Opytnoye, north of Donetsk. Four were wounded on the edge of Avdeyevka, with the other two injured in Novoaleksandrovka and Shirokino.
On July 30, Lysenko had also reported that a soldier was killed on July 29, Fromdonetsk.net reported, citing TV 112 Ukraina.
The Ukrainian military reports 85 attacks by Russian-backed forces yesterday.
According to this morning’s ATO Press Center report, more than 100 shells were fired on the Avdeyevka area last night. The military claims that 152 and 122 mm artillery was used in addition to mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns.
Mortar attacks were also reported near Opytnoye, Peski, Krasnogorovka and Maryinka, where there was heavy fighting over the weekend.
According to the Ukrainian State Border Service, civilian crossing checkpoints in both Maryinka and Mayorsk, north of Gorlovka, were attacked last night.
The ATO Press Center reports that positions in Zaytsevo, east of Mayorsk, were shelled with mortars.
In the south of the Donetsk region, military press officer Ivan Chmin reported that Russian-backed fighters repeatedly shelled Shirokino, on the Azov coast, with both 120 and 82 mm mortars and BMP infantry fighting vehicle cannons.
Chmin also reported six attacks near Vodyanoye, five near Starognatovka, and one each near Bogdanovka, Novotroitskoye and Novomikhailovka.
Dmitry Chaliy, press officer for the Lugansk sector of operations, reported nine attacks yesterday.
According to Chaliy, Russian-backed forces shelled positions near Kalinovo, Novoaleksandrovka and Goludivka with 92 mm mortars, BMP cannons and grenade launchers. Other, “provocative” attacks took place near Novoazov, Novozvanovka, Stanitsa Luganskaya, Novotoshkovka and Popasnaya, he said.
Several houses in separatist-held Donetsk were reportedly damaged by Ukrainian shelling last night.
Pro-government Donetsk news site 62.ua reported that 16 residential buildings were damaged last night.
However a photo used in both this report and several others appears to have been recycled from a YouTube video from last year.
The pro-separatist Donetsk News Agency (DAN) ran several photos that do, however, appear to be new, showing damage in Yasinovataya, northeast of Donetsk city:
According to DAN, one civilian was killed here and another wounded.
In addition, the self-declared Donetsk Peoples Republic (DNR) claims that two Russian-backed fighters were severely wounded yesterday by Ukrainian fire.
— Pierre Vaux