Interpreter Staff

Ukraine Live Day 579: 1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 1 Wounded On Eve of ‘Day Without a Shot Fired’

September 19, 2015
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Ukraine At War
Ukrainians stand around candles forming the name of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze (Giya) at the Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, 16 September 2015, during a rally devoted to the memory of all fallen Ukrainian journalists on the anniversary of Gongadze's death in 2000. Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze was abducted in Kiev and his body was later found buried in a forest. His murder triggered a major political scandal and became Ukraine's most high-profile murder case. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY RPI05 (ROMAN PILIPEY / EPA)

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1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 1 Wounded On Eve of ‘Day Without a Shot Fired’
2015-09-20 03:22:33

Today, September 19, the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] press center said that the day passed without any shots fired at their positions in violation of the ceasefire, Unian.net reported, citing the ATO Facebook page.

The ATO did report that there were three “provocations” during the night when their positions along the Artyomovsk line were fired on from Nizhnoye Lozovoye.

Unian.net reported that last night at about 22:20, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and one wounded in an explosion in the area of Stanitsa Luganskaya.

This was evidently a separate incident than other explosions killing soldiers near Gorlovka and Starognatovka we reported yesterday.

According to the ATO website, the Ukrainian soldiers likely hit a tripwire.

Volunteer and Advisor to Ukrainian President Yuriy Biriukov said an army operation had been launched in the Anti-Terrorist Operation
(ATO) zone to find and destroy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.


“For the record: an army operation has been launched in the ATO zone
to find and destroy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. All over the ATO
zone, do not look for ‘gaps.’ Thousands of troops and hundreds of
vehicles.”

Biriukov didn’t specify what groups remained in Ukraine or where the army was looking for them.

Yesterday, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) called for readiness for war, and dubbed the DNR “an independent state.”

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick