Ministry of Defense: Russia-backed militants commit ten ceasefire violations, extensively use mortars

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Russia-backed militants committed ten ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine yesterday. “They fired a total of fifty 120-mm mortar rounds and some twenty 82-mm rounds at Ukrainian positions,” said Ukrainian Ministry of Defense spokesman on ATO Colonel Dmytro Hutsulyak at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

Nine of these ceasefire violations took place in Luhansk sector. Militants used 120-mm and 82-mm mortars in Novoluhanske, Troitske, Zaitseve, and Krymske areas. They also opened fire near Luhanske, Novooleksandrivka and Stanytsia Luhanska using grenade launchers and small arms. Ukrainian troops returned fire twice using weapons not proscribed under the Minsk agreements.

In Donetsk sector, Russian proxies violated the ceasefire once, firing fifteen 120-mm mortar rounds in Shyrokyne. The attack started at about 15:30 and continued for an hour.

Unfortunately, one Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in action yesterday.

Report on the military developments as of February 18 is available hereInteractive data on the shelling: chronology shelling chart and the interactive map.