The Ukrainian military has taken casualties due to both shelling and tripwire mines on the front line. Meanwhile the OSCE reports that Grad rockets have been in use again this week.
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There have been reports on social media this evening of heavy fighting west and north of Donetsk.
Translation: Intense noise from the southwest. Lots of different sounds, including hissing launches and heavy bangs.
This video captures the sound of shelling in the western Petrovsky district, which is under separatist-control:
Translation: Petrovsky district under heavy artillery fire (Trudovskie, Aleksandrovka). Fires recorded…
Similar reports came from Ukrainian-held Marinka, just to the west:
Fighting was also heard in the north:
Translation: It’s not quiet in Avdeyevka
One Ukrainian soldier has been killed and three wounded over the last 24 hours, reports Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a military spokesman for the Presidential Administration.
According to Motuzyanyk, one soldier was wounded during an attack by Russian-backed fighters near Kodema, northeast of Gorlovka. Two others were wounded and one killed by a tripwire mine near Avdeyevka, north of Donetsk.
The casualties come as the Ukrainian military reports 50 attacks over the last 24 hours, as of 6:00 this morning.
Furthermore, Alexander Hug, deputy chief of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM), reports recent use of heavy weaponry that exceeds that described by Ukrainian officials:
Hug also reported that an SMM drone had spotted Grad MLRS in separatist-held territory less than eight kilometres from Ukrainian-held Troitskoye, in violation of Minsk weapons withdrawal limits:
According to the Ukrainian military’s ATO Press Centre, most attacks yesterday took place near Donetsk and Gorlovka, but also east of Volnovakha.
The Interpreter translates:
The most tense situation remained on the outskirts of Donetsk and Gorlovka. The enemy fired on our positions in Peski, Opytnoye, Avdeyevka and the Butovka mine with grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Militants attacked Marinka seven times with small arms and grenade launchers.
In the Gorlovka area terrorists used mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. Ukrainian defensive positions in Troitskoye and Novgorodskoye were attacked with various types of grenade launchers, while militants opened fire on ATO forces’ fortifications in Mayorsk and Zaytsevo with 82 and 120 mm mortars.
ATO forces’ positions in Krasnogorovka wre also subjected to mortar fire.
The militants also used grenade launchers and small arms against Ukrainian defensive positions outside Kodema, Starognatovka and Novogrigoryevka.
The ‘defence ministry’ of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) claims meanwhile that Ukrainian forces shelled separatist-held territory 36 times over 24 hours, using 82 and 120 mm mortars, as well as grenade launchers.
According to the DNR, the most intense bombardment was directed at the village of Staromikhailovka, west of Donetsk, as well as the northwestern outskirts of the separatist-held city, near the front line with Ukrainian-held Peski.
— Pierre Vaux