Kyiv, September 23, 2015. Ceasefire in the ATO zone continues. Only one armed militant provocation was registered yesterday in the Luhansk sector. Late in the evening militant group members fired several shots from a grenade launcher near Sokilnyky, north of Bakhmutska road. “Yesterday in the ATO zone Ukrainian troops did not incur casualties and there were no wounded in action,” said spokesman of Administration of the President of Ukraine on ATO-related issues Colonel Andriy Lysenko at a press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
In the Donetsk sector yesterday it was turbulent only near the Svitlodarsk water reservoir. “Thus militants violated ceasefire near Lozove and Luhanske in the evening provoking our troops to return fire. The enemy was using grenade launchers and small arms,” said Colonel Lysenko. Militants also conducted several armed provocations on the northern outskirts of Horlivka – in Zaytseve and Mayorsk. ATO forces registered militant snipers twice. “It was absolutely quiet in other parts of the front yesterday,” noted ATO spokesman.
Ukrainian border guards registered the flight of a militant UAV near Talakivka located on the outskirts of Mariupol.
In Luhansk region Ukraine’s Security Service detained an official from Stanytsia Luhanska district council who was passing internal information to militant leaders. The public servant was recruited by militants in August this year and after being back to Stanytsia Luhanska started to pass the available information regularly to his coordinators. “He was sending excerpts from correspondence of the local self-governance with law enforcement and military officers, details of the anti-terrorist operation in Luhansk region, information on patriotic MPs at the local councils and on activists of pro-Ukrainian civic organizations,” said Colonel Lysenko.
Ukrainian law enforcement blocked a channel for smuggling coal from temporary occupied territories. “The scheme for smuggling coal from the militant-controlled territory has been in place since the beginning of 2015. Investigation discovered that to steal and legalize the state money perpetrators used fictitious documents and firms including those with double registration,” noted Colonel Lysenko. Two days ago Ukrainian law enforcement staff held authorized searches in working and living premises of the officials, seized documents that confirm the illegal acts and over USD 70 thousand. The court investigation continues.
In Mariupol Ukrainian policemen found 90 rounds of ammunition for Kalashnikov rifle at home of a militant who is on the wanted list. In course of pre-trial investigation policemen discovered that this is a local resident, born in 1989, enlisted in the so-called “Donetsk Pepople’s Republic” back in 2014. “There are now all grounds to assume that the man left the country. However, sooner or later the perpetrator will be found and held liable,” noted ATO spokesman.
