Kyiv, December 18, 2015. About 25 incidents of militants’ use of weapons against ATO troops were recorded last night, five of them after midnight, said Major Anton Myronovych, ATO spokesman, via Skype at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “In particular, militants were shooting at our positions in the vicinity of Pisky, Mariinka, Zaitseve, Novhorodske, Luhanske and Kodema, using light arms, large machine guns and grenade launchers. Late at night, Russian-backed militants used 82mm mortar launchers, shooting at Novhorodske twice and Krasnohorivka once,” said the spokesperson. Moreover, he said that militant snipers have become active again. They were trying to strike Ukrainian troops in Novhorodske, Luhanske and Pisky at nightfall. “According to a recent update, a minor firefight took place yesterday with a small group of insurgents near Luhanske. Using small rifles, our troops fought back and the militants retreated,” said Major Myronovych.
In general, there is a long-term trend of armed provocations established by militants. Sometimes they use weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Yesterday, on December 17, militants used 82mm mortar launchers three times. They also conducted random and precision fire attacks involving weapons of smaller caliber, mostly in Donetsk region and most intensively near Donetsk city. “One attack on Triokhizbenka involving automatic grenade launchers was recorded. Moreover, active work of militants’ sniper groups was observed,” said the spokesperson. Militants used grenade launchers yesterday in the morning to shoot at Avdiivka residential quarters where no Ukrainian troops were located.
In total, militants shot about 100 times at ATO troops’ positions, inhabited localities and objects of infrastructure in the past three days, mostly in the Donetsk sector. “There were 31 attacks on Tuesday, 34 on Wednesday, and 32 attacks at our positions, one firefight and one fire attack at an inhabited locality took place yesterday,” informed Major Myronovych. According to him, four unmanned aerial vehicles were recorded in the past three days, all of them in the aerial domain of temporarily occupied territories. “Usually they are launched from the territory of the Russian Federation. They are conducting air reconnaissance without crossing the demarcation line, which means they are mostly observing Russian-militant forces and the line of our defense,” said the spokesperson.
