1 Ukrainian Soldier KIA, 3 WIA; SBU Conducts Raids, Arrests of Persons Said to Aid Russia, Including Journalist

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and three were injured, Liga.net reported, citing the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation].

There were four violations of the ceasefire. On the Lugansk line, there were attacks from grenade-launchers and heavy machine guns on Troitskoye, Luganskoye and Novozvanovka.

On the Donetsk line, heavy machine guns and small arms were fired near Verkhnyetoretskoye.

The Ukrainian Center for Joint Control and informed the OSCE of the shelling of a vehicle carrying repair personnel to the Donetsk Filtration Station.

Two people were killed and six injured from a grenade explosion in a van in the Kirov Region of Donetsk in recent days, the Ukrainian Border Service said, Liga.net reported.

The explosion reportedly occurred during a fight between fighters from the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Lugansk People’s Republic”.

The DNR’s Interior Ministry was said to make some arrests in connection with the incident.

The explosion follows reports of two other incients. On March 3, a car exploded during residences in Donetsk and on March 5, there was a report of another explosion in Donetsk.

The Ukrainian Security Service conducted a series of raids and arrests today of persons that it claimed were supporting the Russia-backed forces, Liga.net reported, citing the spokesperson for the SBU.

Agents seized “propaganda materials, weapons, explosions and many other pieces of evidence of subversive work against our country,” said the spokesperson.

“Unfortunately, there are among these citizens those who have a relationship to the journalists’ profession, but affiliation to that profession cannot be an indulgence from legal responsibility for anti-state actions,” she said.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that searches took place in Kiev, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odessa and among those searched was journalist Yuriy Lukashin.

Strana.ua said SBU officers broke into Lukashin’s home and that his lawyer came to the scene.

The search warrant said it was authorized in connection with a case of “information aggressive against Ukraine on the part of unidentified representatives of the Russian Federation and occupying authorities of Crimea.”

Lukashin is a well-known journalist who worked for the newspaper Delo, 2000, and others and “did not hide his opposition views,” said Strana.ua.

He was the author of a documentary film about the murder of journalist Oles Buzina, banned in Ukraine, RIAN reported. 

A Russian journalist was said to “penetrate Ukraine for a provocation,” Liga.net reported, citing a YouTube uploaded by Ivan Protsenko, who provided commentary to a broadcast by Rossiya 24 from the reporter that he said was misleading.

The SBU also detained a businessman at his relative’s home in Kharkiv who was said to finance the pro-Russian fighters in Donbass, Gordonua.com reported, citing the SBU’s web site. He was not named, but said to be the owner of one of the largest product marketing networks in occupied Donbass. They also confiscated documents and electronic devices.