NSDC: The Most Fierce Battles in the ATO Area Are Fought for Donetsk Airport

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Kyiv, October 4, 2014. Terrorists violated cease-fire, and unsuccessfully assaulted the Donetsk airport, suffering heavy losses, reported Colonel Andriy Lysenko, the National Security and Defense Council Information Center spokesman at his briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Colonel Lysenko said that yesterday two Ukrainian servicemen were killed in the ATO area; the number of wounded military is being verified. Terrorists continue to violate the ceasefire and fired on the positions of the ATO forces. The most violent battles took place near the Donetsk airport, where Ukrainian forces killed 12 fighters. During the attack the enemy used smoke bombs, which were erroneously taken for combat gas. At the same time Ukrainian forces in Donetsk airport received reinforcement, and partial rotation of the defenders took place.
NSDS spokesman reported the clashes between the Ukrainian military and terrorists near Orlovske and Starognativka villages (Telmanovo district, Donetsk region). Both attacks were repulsed, the terrorists have suffered losses. On the Ukrainian-Russian border, the situation is calm, however, in occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea there was continued redeployment of Russian military equipment to the administrative border between the ARC and Kherson region.
Commenting on the tragic incident of the death of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative in Donetsk, Andriy Lysenko stated that the Ukrainian army strictly observed the cease-fire and, in accordance with the President’s orders, would not open fire on civil areas. NSDS Spokesman presented audio records of conversation between the terrorists and Russian journalists, who discussed falsifying of the tragedy’s circumstances, which indicated their involvement in the incident. The spokesman said Ukraine guaranteed full and open investigation into this incident.
NSDS spokesman reported that in the occupied part of the Luhansk region, in Stakhanov, terrorists introduced a ‘curfew’; while in towns of Rovenky and Anthracite armed terrorists forcibly removed passports Ukraine possessed by the locals. At the same time, the situation in Mariupol is fully controlled by Ukrainian authorities; all services are running in the regular mode. Shortly the OSCE mission will start monitoring the demarcation line and the cease-fire.
While presenting her speech at the German Day of Unity, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her support for Ukraine and stated that Russia disregarded world principles of co-existence and openly defied international law and the principles of territorial integrity. Moreover, Lithuania called for creating a mutual fund for supporting Ukraine’s military, which would collect voluntary contributions from EU Member States in the amount of 1%-3% of finance allocated to the EU structural funds.