OSCE Special Monitoring Mission observers in southeastern Ukraine on October 28, 2016. Photo by Unian.net
Ukraine Day 987: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
1 Ukrainian soldier was killed and 8 wounded in battle today, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Lysenko reported.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
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An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
1 Ukrainian Soldier Killed, 8 Wounded in Battle; OSCE Monitors Record 1,000 Explosions Over the Weekend
Situation on the front as of October 31, 2016. Map by Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council.
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 8 were wounded, Andriy Lysenko, the Ukrainian Defense Minister for ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] Affairs stated at a briefing, Ukrinform.ru reported.
He said the soldier had been killed in battle near Verkhnetoretstskoye and one wounded there; 4 soldiers were wounded near Avdeyevka (Avdiivka); two near the Butovka coal mine; and one in Luganskoye.
Russia-backed militants fired on Ukrainian positions 22 times; 11 of these incidents were on the Mariupol line. Grenade launchers, machine guns and small arms were used in Granitnoye, Lebedinskoye, Gnutovo and Novotroitskoye; 82-mm and 120-mm mortar launchers were used near Shirokino and Stepnoye, Ukrinform reported, citing morning and evening reports from the ATO on their Facebook page.
On the Donetsk line, there were 7 violations of the “quiet regime”; heavy machine guns were used near the Butovka coal mine as well as various grenade-launchers and small arms; militans fired from a BMP in Luganskoye and used 82-mm and 120-mm mortar launchers in Avdeyevka and Verkhentoretskoye, Ukrinform reported.
Lysenko said Avdeyevka was hit the hardest in a four-hour barrage; there was also a clash at Verkhnetoretskoye where Ukrainian forces forced the Russia-backed militants’ retreat, suffering casualties as indicated.
Intensive fire also continued in Krasnogorovka, Maryinka, Starognatovka and the area between Pavlopol and Shirokino; militants used mortar-launchers and BMPs. The ATO forces returned fire, said Lysenko. On the Luganskoye front, in Lopaskino, Krymskoye and Popasnaya, 122-mm mortars were launched. Near Krymskoye and Lopaskino, grenade-launchers, machine guns and small arms were also used; in Nizhnetyoploye, snipers were active, Ukrinform reported.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission recorded more than 1,000 explosions in Donetsk Region over the past weekend on October 29-30; 700 on Saturday and 332 on Sunday, in Donetsk, Avdeyevka, Gorlovka, Svetlodarsk, Shirokino, Sakhanka, Gnutovo, Azov (former Dzerzhinskoye), Zaychenko, Yasinovataya and Orlovskoye. Unian reported
There was far less fighting in Lugansk Region, where 60 exposions were reported on October 29 and 36 on October 30.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick