Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and eight injured in another restless night on the Donbas front.
The servicemen fell under an artillery attack by Russian-backed militants on the night of June 6-7 in the frontline village of Novoluhanske in Donetsk Oblast, some 600 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
Despite the announcement of another ceasefire on June 5 amid peace negotiations in Minsk, militants shelled the lines held by the Azov Regiment — a controversial unit of Ukraine’s National Guard affiliated with the country’s far-right — with banned 122-millimeter howitzers and 120-millimeter mortars, according to the Join Forces Operation press service.
A 122-millimeter shell directly hit an Azov dugout, killing two fighters, the Interior Ministry said early on June 7.
Later in the day, Azov identified the two soldiers as 28-year-old Dmytro Pryhlo, an Azov serviceman since 2014 and a company morale officer, and 23-year-old Maksym Oleksiuk, who had served since 2017.
“This war crime demonstrates for the umpteenth time that any agreements with Russia or its… puppets are worthless,” the Azov press service said, adding that the regiment would have revenge for its fallen comrades-in-arms.
Dmytro Pryglo, an Azov Regiment fighter killed on the night of June 6-7.
Maksym Oleksiuk, an Azov Regiment fighter killed on the night of June 6-7
As a result of the attack, 8 more soldiers were injured.
Later in the day, the Ukrainian military reported that four soldiers wounded at Novoluhanske were hospitalized with moderately severe bodily injures and four more suffered concussions.
According to the Defense Ministry, Ukrainian lines near Mariupol, an Azov Sea port city of over 440,000 people located 720 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, were also attacked by militants on the night of June 6-7.
“In virtually every attack, whenever it was possible, our defenders offered a decent response to the enemy and returned fire,” the military said.
“As of (noon), the situation has partly stabilized and our defenders are keeping firm control of the enemy all along the contact line.”
The Presidential Administration later reacted to the deadly incident at Novoluhanske, saying that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy considered the shelling attacks an indication that Russia was losing control of the militants in Donbas.
“We hope the Russian side will restore its control over these formations,” the presidential press service said, adding that the president offered his condolences to the families of the soldiers killed in action and thanked the Ukrainian servicepeople for their “courage and strength.”
Ukraine will continue pushing for an armistice and prisoner exchange, the statement said.
“Shelling Ukrainian military servicepeople is an obvious regular attempt to undermine ceasefire negotiations,” the press service quoted Zelenskiy as saying.
“No matter who gave the order, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will give a harsh and adequate answer. And at the diplomatic level, our stance regarding the necessity of halting fire and setting prisoners of war free will remain firm and unchanged.”
The situation in Donbas has sharply deteriorated over past few days since the Trilateral Contact Group of Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) met on June 5 after a long hiatus, with former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma again representing Kyiv.
The sides agreed to another armistice and another attempt to initiate a mutual withdrawal of troops, starting at the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint near occupied Luhansk from June 10 and all along the rest of the 450-kilometer frontline from June 19.
According to Martin Sajdik, the OSCE envoy to the Minsk negotiations, the Ukrainian delegation proposed lifting the ban on exchanges of commercial goods with the Russian-occupied areas, which has been in force since early 2017.
Nonetheless, hostilities in Donbas flared up following the Minsk meeting.
On June 6, Ukraine’s military reported that one soldier was killed in action and one more was wounded, while the previous day saw two soldiers killed and three more injured in combat.
