Ukraine Day 911: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlinâs Dirty War in Ukraine
Eight Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the Donbass yesterday.
Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, military spokesman for the Presidential Administration, told reporters today that two soldiers were wounded during a skirmish with Russian-backed fighters outside Bogdanovka, east of Volnovakha.
The ATO Press Center reported that two Russian-backed fighters approached from the direction of separatist-held Petrovskoye and attacked the Ukrainian line under cover of grenade-launcher fire from another group.
Two were wounded near Novoselovka, to the south, while in Avdeyevka, north of Donetsk, three were wounded by mortar fire. The eighth soldier was injured by a tripwire mine outside Maryinka, west of Donetsk.
The Ukrainian military claims that Russian-backed forces conducted 48 attacks over the course of the day.
According to this morning’s ATO Press Center report, Russian-backed fighters used 122 mm artillery to shell Novoselovka, where Colonel Motuzyanyk reported two casualties.
Elsewhere in the south the Ukrainian military reported that their positions near Taramchuk, on the Donetsk-Mariupol highway, Talakovka and Vodyanoye, outside Mariupol, had been shelled with both 120 and 82 mm mortars.
In Shirokino, on the Azov coast, Ukrainian troops came under fire from armored vehicles, while snipers operated near Novotroitskoye.
Meanwhile, the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the settlements of Dokuchaevsk, Kominternovo, Belaya Kamenka and Sakhanka.
Ukrainian military press officer Ivan Chmil told Mariupol news site 0629.com.ua that shelling had continued after midnight.
According to Chmil, the tiny village of Rybinskoye, some distance away from the front line, was shelled with 152 mm artillery, while positions near Chermalyk came under fire from 82 mm mortars.
Closer to Donetsk city, Chmil reported that Maryinka had been shelled by 122 mm self-propelled artillery at around 1:00 this morning.
Yesterday, the ATO Press Center reported, Russian-backed forces fired on nearby Krasnogorovka from armored vehicles.
To the north of Donetsk and Gorlovka the military claims that around 150 heavy mortar shells fell on positions in Avdeyevka, Zaytsevo and Mayorsk.
The Ukrainian State Border Service released photographs of impact craters near their civilian crossing point outside Mayorsk.
According to the Service, more than ten 120 mm shells fell here.
Infantry fighting vehicles reportedly opened fire near Luganskoye, Verkhnetoretskoye and Novgorodskoye.
Meanwhile, in the Lugansk region, the ATO Press Center reports that Stanitsa Luganskaya was shelled with 120 mm mortars, while grenade launchers and heavy machine guns were used in attacks near Novoaleksandrovka, Zolotoye and Zhyoltoye. Small-arms attacks were reported near Stariy Aidar and Katerinovka.