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UNIAN reports that twelve Ukrainian National Guard soldiers were killed last night when a military KRAZ truck collided with a bus in the Donetsk region. At least 20 were wounded and a thirteenth soldier died from their injuries during the night.
Twelve National Guard servicemen were killed at the scene and more than 20 reportedly injured in a collision between a KRAZ army truck and a bus. The accident, which happened in bad weather, occurred as the soldiers of the National Guard’s Kulchytskiy Battalion were being transferred out of the conflict zone for leave.
The injured soldiers were taken to the hospital in Artemovsk. Some are seriously injured and doctors have called on the public to donate blood.
Ukraine’s TSN news channel has photos from the scene:
Andrei Lysenko, the spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, announced that 14 of the wounded soldiers had been taken to hospital in Kharkiv.
Cristian Jereghi, a journalist for the 1+1 channel, claimed on his Facebook page that the driver of the KRAZ military truck, that crashed into the bus filled with soldiers, was drunk.
The Ukrainian prosecutor-general has opened an investigation into the accident.
— Pierre Vaux
The Ukrainian volunteer-based Azov regiment (formerly the Azov Battalion) have reported that several of their positions on the front line in the south of the Donetsk region, towards Mariupol and the coast, have come under attack this morning.
Mariupol news site 0629.com.ua reported that Stepan Bayda, a spokesman for the regiment, told their correspondent that positions near the village of Gnutovo were shelled from approximately 11 (9 GMT) this morning. The fire reportedly came from mortars, self-propelled artillery “and possibly Grads.” There were no reported Azov casualties.
Meanwhile Azov reported attacks to the north, near Granitnoye. A post on the regiment’s Facebook page, made at 10:43 (8:43 GMT), reads (translated by The Interpreter):
Azov regiment positions outside Granitnoye are being shelled right now. They’re hitting with a 120-mm mortar. Good morning everybody!
A second post, at 11:19 (9:19 GMT) read:
Self-propelled artillery and Grads have joined in with the mortar. Everyone is alive and well. We’re holding our positions. In the meantime, yet another day of the ceasefire goes on.
Earlier this morning, at 7:20 (5:20 GMT) the Ukrainian military’s ATO Press Centre had announced on Facebook that Ukrainian positions near Kamyenka, to the south-west of Grantinoye, had been fired on with artillery.
Finally, at 12:19 (10:19 GMT), the military headquarters for the defence of Mariupol made an announcement on their Facebook page, adding two other locations to the list of attacks.
According to the post, Ukrainian positions near the village of Chermalyk came under mortar fire twice: between 9:05 and 10:30, and then between 10:22 and 10:40 (local times).
Meanwhile positions near the village of Nikolaevka, to the north, were attacked between 9:45 and 10:40 local time.
No Ukrainian military casualties were reported.
Here is a map indicating the locations of the attacks:
— Pierre Vaux