Interpreter Staff

Ukraine Live Day 453: 1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 3 Wounded; Heavy Fighting in Shirokino

May 16, 2015
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Cossacks unveil a bust of Putin near the metro stop Prosveshcheniya [Enlightenment] Avenue In the form of a Roman emperor, May 16, 2015. Photo by Dmitry Smirnov/Komsomolskaya Pravda

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1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 3 Wounded in Last 24 Hours; 1 Russian-Backed Fighter Wounded; Heavy Fighting in Shirokino
2015-05-17 01:00:05

Unian reported that
one Ukrainian soldier was killed and 3 wounded in the last 24 hours,
according to Aleksandr Motuzyanik, spokesman for the ATO (Anti-Terror
Operation] Center.

Russian-backed militants continue to hit Ukrainian positions with practically everything they’ve got, he said at a briefing in Kiev.

In Lugansk region, militants fired with tanks, artillery, mortar
launchers, grenade launchers, machine guns, anti-tank missile systems,
sniper rifles and shotguns, primarily at Stanitsa Luganskaya and also at
Schastye.

Along the Donetsk line, there was firing on Granitnoye, Opytnoye, Berezovoye and Pesky.

Along the Artyomsk line, there was firing on Svetlodarsk, Leninskoye, Kirovo, Rozovka and Zolotoye.

There was also shelling of Shirokino (Shyrokine) and Russian-backed militants were “receiving an appropriate
response,” said  Motuznyanik, who added that each time the militants ask
for a ceasefire, they are the ones to break it.

Drones were observed along the lins of Chermalyk to Novoselovka,
Yasinovataya to Donetsk, Starobelsk to Kuryachevka, Liman to Schastye
and also Vesyolaya Gora Schastye.

Dmitry Steshin, the pro-Russian war correspondent from Komsomolskaya Pravda reported just his side of the battle via the VKontakte group Dispatches from Novorossiya:

Just back from the front line in Shirokino. It’s screwed,
that’s the most exact word. the first attack came at 4:00 am, they
repelled it with one wounded. As the wounded man said, “It’s a good
morning when it doesn’t hit you in the head, but the neck.” Two cottages
again burned before our eyes from Ukrainian forces’ fire. After the
attack, shelling non-stop – AGS, 120 mm, tahnk and quite modestly from
just one Grad. In Shirokino, there is the so-called Semyon Battalion,
and they are such wolves…To sure, wolves without artillery.

Translation: it turned out to be a powerful special
report. You’ll forgive me, but I think this is how it is. Days at the
hottest spot in Donbass, Shirokino.

Translation: OSCE has recorded burning homes in Shirokino.

Yesterday, Azov Regiment reported that they had destroyed a Russian Federation tank outside of Shirokino.

— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick