Ukraine’s military and police contingent opposing Russian-sponsored militants in Donbas has sustained its 17th combat-related fatality since the latest ceasefire was declared in late July.
Junior Sergeant Viktor Paseka of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade on March 19 suffered a fatal headshot in action near the front-line town of Pivdenne in Donetsk Oblast, close to the occupied city of Horlivka, 570 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
Paseka, 55, served as a fireteam leader with the brigade’s 109th Mountain Assault Infantry Battalion and was originally from the village of Monchyntsi in Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
According to military dispatches, on March 18, the Ukrainian lines were shelled with 120 and 82-millimeter mortars, heavy machine guns, and small arms near Pivdenne, inflicting a fatal wound on one of the Ukrainian defenders.
The latest incident is the 3rd Ukrainian combat-related fatality in March. As recently as March 12, 30-year-old soldier Oleksadr Pekur was killed by an enemy sniper. On March 10, 44-year-old soldier Volodymyr Onopriyenko also sustained a fatal injury.
According to official figures, as many as 17 Ukrainian military service members were killed in action and 69 were injured since the latest general ceasefire went into effect on July 27. The Donbas ceasefire was strongly advocated by the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of its peace plan for the region.
