Kyiv, April 24, 2015. The number of ceasefire violations committed by the pro-Russian militants has conisderably decreased in the last 24 hours. However, they instigate isolated armed provocations and fail to comply with the requirements of Minsk agreements regarding the heavy weapons withdrawal. Russia-backed fighters used 120-mm mortars nine times and the 122-mm artillery three times as well as tanks against the Ukrainian forces; enemy snipers have been active as well. Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesperson of the Presidential Administration on the issues connected with ATO, made this statement at the press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
The epicenter of the conflict in the Donetsk region was mainly in the northwest edges of Horlivka and areas around the Donetsk airport. Beside Ukrainian military positions, pro-Russian militants also shelled the residential district of Avdiivka, firing 26 mines at the area. “Ukrainian troops warded off the enemy’s assault near Berezove who have attempted to break through to Mariupol. Ukrainian servicemen killed one insurgent and took six of them as prisoners. There were no casualties on our side”, Col. Lysenko added.
Shyrokyne remains the major hotspot in the Mariupol sector. Pro-Russian insurgents used heavy weapons there, but were unable to seize more territories. In the Luhansk sector, militants were most active near Shchastya.
Ukrainian servicemen spotted 5 enemy UAVs along the frontline.
Ukrainian Armed Forces did not incur any lethal casualties in the last 24 hours; one serviceman got wounded.
Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russian security services informed their proxies in eastern Ukraine of their readiness to supply the “republican guard of the Donetsk People’s Republic” with weapons only if half of these forces going to be professional soldiers of the Russia’s Armed Forces.
According to Col. Motuzyanyk, the Security Service of Ukraine and police arrested six raiders in Kharkiv. Three of them coordinated their actions with the “LPR” militants and were caught at the attempt of sending a radio set and spare car parts to militants basing in militant-held Alchevsk. Three more were members of the pro-Russian ”Oplot” militant group suspected of blasting a railway and shelling a regional military enlistment office.
