Oleksandr Motuzyanyk: Militants deploy 122mm artillery and 120mm mortars in the Donetsk sector

Kyiv, July 26, 2015. Russia-backed militants continue using 122mm artillery, 120mm mortar launchers and tanks in the Donetsk sector, said Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesperson of the Administration of the President of Ukraine on ATO-related issues, at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

“The militants continue 152mm artillery fire on Ukrainian positions at the first and second lines of defense northwest of Horlivka. Militants also delivered mortar shelling to the south of Svitlodarsk. Incessant combat actions continue in the western suburbs of Donetsk in the section between Avdiivka and Maryinka,” said Col. Motuzyanyk.

26-07_eng

 

The militants fired on Ukrainian forces near Starohnativka overnight, using “Gvozdika” 122mm self-propelled artillery mounts. Militants also fired on Ukrainian troops in Chemalyk and Shyrokyne.

Russia-backed fighters delivered mortar shelling near Shchastya and Zhovte. Additionally, militants conducted attacks in the vicinity of Stanytsya Luhanska and by the Bakhmutska Road, near Tryokhizbenka and Nyzhnye. No incidents of heavy armament use were registered in these areas.

Seven militant UAV flights were spotted in the ATO zone yesterday.

Ukrainian Armed Forces incurred no casualties over the past twenty-four hours, although three servicemen were wounded.

Residents of Donetsk region continue receiving humanitarian aid. “Two trucks carrying 40 tons of food proceeded through the Buhas checkpoint. The aid was provided by a charitable organization,” added Col. Motuzyanyk.

Ukrainian border guards detained a KamAZ truck at the Berezove checkpoint on the Donetsk-Mariupol road. The truck was carrying ammunition and came from the occupied territory. “The border guards fired off warning shots to stop the truck. Additionally, reserve groups were sent to the site. Two men wearing unmarked uniforms were inside the truck. One of them said he was a regular officer of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, holding the rank of major. Another man was a member of a pro-Russian militant group as shown by the seized documents,” said Col. Motuzyanyk.

Law enforcement officers found a large number of boxes with ammunition, including F-1 grenades, cartridges of various caliber and RPG-7 grenade launcher supplies.

Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained two militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The militants had nom de guerres “Skorpion” and “Kravets”. They participated in attacks against Ukrainian troops near Debaltseve and at the Donetsk airport.

Criminal investigators found a rocket launcher, an RGD-5 grenade and sixty AK-47 cartridges while searching a previously convicted resident of the town of Bilozerske, Donetsk region.  At the same time, law enforcement officers seized two fragmentation grenades from a resident of Kostiantynivka.

SBU officers shut down another militant financing source. Fifty-one accounts of fourteen businesses from Mariupol were frozen under the corresponding court decision. Officers seized funds in national and foreign currency equivalent to almost 2 million hryvnia, as well as twenty stamps of bogus legal entities while searching the businesses’ premises.