One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and nine were wounded in the past 48 hours in eastern Ukraine as more than 200 coal miners were trapped underground because of Russian-separatist shelling in Ukraine-controlled Dzerzhynsk in Donetsk Oblast, presidential military spokesperson Col. Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Aug. 8.
Ninety-six miners were
rescued so far from three coal mines in Dzherynsk, leaving 122 trapped
underground, according to Donetsk Oblast police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin’s
Facebook page.
Three civilians, in
addition, were wounded as a result of Russian-separatist shelling of the
coal-mining city of Dzerzhynsk, located 26 kilometers northwest of occupied
Horlivka, and 53 kilometers north of Russian-held Donetsk. Three additional
civilians were wounded by Russian-separatist shelling in the township of
Nevelske in Donetsk Oblast, including two boys aged three and six.
Ukrainian positions were
fired upon 111 times by artillery, mortar and tank shelling overnight on Aug.
8-9, reported military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh on his Facebook page on the
morning of Aug. 9.
Combined
Russian-separatist forces also shelled the coaling coke-producing city of
Avdiivka at 4 a.m. on Aug. 8, but no casualties were reported, Abroskin
reported.
Also attacked overnight on Aug. 8 with
heavy artillery, mortars and tanks were the Donetsk Airport area, particularly near Vodyane, Opytne, Pisky, Avdiivka and
Pervomayske. Kremlin proxies also launched tank attacks at Ukrainian positions
in the vicinity of Maryinka, as well as fired from large-caliber machine guns
close to Krasnohorivka. Russian-separatist forces also fired mortars at Ukrainian
positions near Zaytseve and Kirove.
In Luhansk Oblast, Ukrainian positions took tank
fire near Shchastya, where a regional electrical power generator is based.
Heavy arms were employed near Troyitske and Russian forces instigated a series
of armed provocations by Stanytsia Luhanska.
Ukrainian authorities also uncovered two arms caches
in Starobilsk and Avdiivka in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts, respectively. They
discovered 7,000 ammunition rounds, 10 RGD-5 grenades, eight F-1 grenades and 11
grenade launchers. The owner of the arms cache, whose name authorities would
not disclose, was detained in Avdiivka.
More than 6,800 people
have been killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine since mid-April 2014,
according to data provided by the United Nations. More than 2.2 million have
been uprooted from their homes, including 1.4 internally, causing the worst
humanitarian crisis in Ukraine since World War II.
