Kyiv, 15 January 2015 – Situation in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in Donbas remains tense. “Illegal armed groups increase the number and intensity of fire at our forces’ positions and at the localities. From 18.00 yesterday and till this morning illegal armed groups opened fire 44 times. In the day time the spot of highest tension remained the Donetsk airport and nearby localities, in the evening the enemy redirected fire to the Luhansk direction – near localities Kryakivka, Verkhnya Vilkhova, Tryokhizbenka, Krymske and Stanytsia Luhanska. Since 19.00 militants have shelled these localities 13 times with Grad multiple rocket launchers. Despite its complexity the situation is under control by Ukrainian military. In case offensive activities increase the enemy is being rebuffed, suffers losses in manpower and equipment,” informed Leonyd Matyukhin, ATO spokesman via Skype at a briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Illegal criminal groups have not ceased firing at the Ukrainian positions near the Donetsk airport. Localities Tonenke, Krasnohorivka, Bohdanivka and Pisky came under Grad shelling. “The new terminal of the Donetsk airport was fired upon with cannon artillery and grenade launchers till 2.30 am, Ukrainian servicemen are not going to leave the terminal,” underlined Leonyd Matyukhin.
In the last day illegal criminal groups fired a total of 129 times at the positions of Ukrainian military.
11 cases of aerial reconnaissance conducted with UAVs were observed in the area near localities Kirovske, Shchastia, Starobilsk, Toshkivka, Talakovka, Sartana, Berdyansk, Stary Aidar, Avdiivka and Mariupol.
