Russian-backed armed groups have intensified military activity against Ukrainian soldiers during the past 24 hours.
The Ukrainian positions were attacked at least 66 times in eastern Ukraine’s on Dec. 27, the Presidential
Administration’s military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said. This was a record-high of Russian-backed
attacks during the past two weeks.
Shelling occurred in the proximities of Donetsk Oblast’s villages Zaytseve, Maryinka, Novoselivsk, Talakivka and Troits’ke.
“The invaders did most of the shelling when it was dark
outside,” Ukraine’s defense ministry wrote in a press release. Ukraine’s
soldiers were reportedly shot at from 82-milimeter mortars, grenade launchers,
anti-aircraft weapons, infantry fighting vehicles and a tank.
As a result, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and three
others wounded.
“Some of the shelling hit civilian apartments,” the press
release said. “It is still being clarified if there were any casualties.”
The militants also tried to provoke Ukrainian soldiers in
Kominternove through Russian media sources, saying as if Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
representatives were shot at by Ukrainian soldiers.
Eduard Basurin, deputy defense minister and spokesman of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said that he and OSCE members were being shelled by
Ukrainian soldiers.
OSCE and Russian media representatives were “under a sniper attack in
Kominternove,” Basurin said, news agency Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Oleksiy Mazepa, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military, said that
Ukrainian soldiers do not open fire first and that they have followed the Minsk
peace agreement requirements.
“We warned that (Russian-backed militants) are preparing provocations.
They are trying to discredit Ukraine’s soldiers in the eyes of international
observes,” Mazepa said.
