Colonel Andriy Lysenko: Avdiivka remains epicenter of combat, militants shooting from mortar launchers, tanks, armored personnel carriers and 152-mm self-propelled artillery mounts

Kyiv, March 21, 2016. Ceasefire violations were registered in all sectors of the ATO zone yesterday. Militants shelled Ukrainian troops’ positions 28 times in the Donetsk sector. Avdiivka remains the epicenter of combat. “The occupiers used heavy armaments repeatedly in the last 24 hours – mortar launchers, tanks, armored personnel carriers and 152-mm self-propelled artillery mounts. Militants are shooting from Yasynuvata and nearby areas,” – informed Colonel Andriy Lysenko, Presidential Administration spokesperson on ATO related issues, at a briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “Moreover, the situation is extremely restless at the Svitlodarsk bulge and Zaitseve. Militants moved numerous forces and heavy armaments up to the frontline. Militants’ snipers are active,” he added.

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A firefight took place near Triokhizbenka in the Luhansk sector. “Occupiers used an 82-mm mortar launcher, making ATO troops respond with fire. The incident lasted over one hour,” informed Col. Lysenko. In the Mariupol sector, ATO forces repelled a militant attack by a subversive reconnaissance group near Novotroitske. Moreover, Russia-backed militant groups instigated two provocations near Mariinka.

Two Ukrainian servicemen died in the ATO zone yesterday and two were wounded. “For instance, two soldiers going by truck died as a result of tripping a mine and two more were injured in a shelling near Luhanske and Avdiivka. Moreover, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died two days ago in a local hospital of New Haven (Connecticut, USA). He was heavily wounded in November 2014 in Shchastia, Luhansk region,” informed the spokesman.

Col. Lysenko said that a truck carrying humanitarian aid of almost three tons of baby food proceeded through Zaitseve checkpoint yesterday. The freight from a charity fund is destined for Donetsk.