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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
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The Ukrainian military claims that Russia-backed forces have continued to use heavy weapons over the weekend, undermining the latest in a long string of efforts by negotiators to achieve a withdrawal of such weaponry from the front line.
According to the Ukrainian military’s ATO Press Center, Russia-backed fighters yesterday used 82 and 120 mm mortars to shell Avdeyevka, north of separatist-held Donetsk.
Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, told reporters at a briefing today that two Ukrainian soldiers had been wounded in combat in the town.
On Saturday, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and two were wounded after 120 mm shells reportedly struck a position in Zaytsevo, north of separatist-held Gorlovka. Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala reported that one of the survivors was seriously injured.
The ATO Press Center reported 14 attacks across the whole of the front line yesterday.
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Anti-Terrorism Operation in the presidential administration, described the new ceasefire as tense. But since heavy mortars were reportedly used by the Russian-backed militants, and since a Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the last 24 hours, that may have been an understatement. Ukraine Today reports:
According to [Lysenko] Russian proxies commenced 29 attacks during a day, most of them in Donetsk region. Here they used banned heavy weapons, namely mortars of 120 ad 82 mm calibre, firing over 40 mines. The main “hot spots” of the frontline are the towns of Avdiyivka and Maryinka.
'Ceasefire': Militants fire heavy weapons and ignore their vow to withdraw forces
Ukrainian soldier sheltering from enemy fire (Photo by Dmytro Muravsky / Facebook) Ukraine reports 29 attacks by Russian proxies including heavy mortar shelling, one soldier wounded Situation on Donbas frontline remains tense, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defence Ministry Col. Andriy Lysenko says.
Unian.info provides more detail on the heaviest fighting:
“The occupiers used an 82mm mortar to shell the village of Pisky and the town of Avdiyivka, and a 120mm mortar was used to shell the Butivka coal mine. In addition, they used grenade launchers, machine-guns and small arms to fire on Avdiyivka, and the villages of Verkhniotoretske and Novhorodske. Avdiyivka also came under sniper fire,” the ATO HQ said.
“There were five instances of the violation of the ceasefire in the Luhansk sector. “The enemy opened fire on the villages of Novozvanivka and Novo-Oleksandrivka, using grenade launchers and small arms. Under-barrel grenade launchers were fired on the village of Stanytsia Luhanska [which is one of the three points for recently agreed disengagement] to provoke backfire,” the ATO HQ said.
Ukraine reports 29 attacks on its troops in Donbas in last day
Twelve attacks were reported in the Donetsk sector alone. "The occupiers used an 82mm mortar to shell the village of Pisky and the town of Avdiyivka, and a 120mm mortar was used to shell the Butivka coal mine. In addition, they used grenade launchers, machine-guns and small arms to fire on Avdiyivka, and the villages of Verkhniotoretske and Novhorodske.