Ukraine Live Day 702: Fewer Reported Attacks, But Both Sides Claim Heavy Mortars Used

January 20, 2016
Queue waiting to pass a checkpoint near separatist-held Yelenovka, south of Donetsk, this morning. Photo via @Max_Bondar

The number of attacks reported yesterday was significantly lower than on other days over the last week, however both sides continue to report the use of heavy mortars that should have been withdrawn in accordance with the Minsk agreement.

Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.

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Fewer Reported Attacks, But Both Sides Claim Heavy Mortars Used

The Ukrainian military reports fewer attacks over the last 24 hours than we have seen in the last week, but the use of heavy weaponry was still reported last night.

Colonel Andriy Lysenko, military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, announced at noon today that one Ukrainian soldier had been wounded in action.  

According to the ATO Press Centre, 17 attacks were recorded over 24 hours, with most taking place near Donetsk and Mariupol.

In the Donetsk area, Russian-backed fighters reportedly used 82 and 120 mm mortars to attack Ukrainian positions near Opytnoye and Avdeyevka. Small arms attacks were reported in Marinka, west of Donetsk.

Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns were used against positions near Peski and the Butovka mine, as well as Zaytsevo, north of Gorlovka.

On the coast, 120 mm mortars, reportedly located in the separatist-held village of Dzerzhynskoye, were used to shell Ukrainian positions near Vodyanoye.

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The deputy commander of the armed forces of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), Eduard Basurin, claimed meanwhile that Ukrainian troops in Vodyanoye had shelled the village of Kominternovo.

According to Basurin, around 120 rounds, fired from 82 and 120 mm mortars, as well as infantry fighting vehicles, fell on the village this morning. The attack, he said, began at around 7:50 Kiev time, and was, as of 9:55, still under way.

— Pierre Vaux