Kyiv, 29 January 2015 – The situation in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone remains tense. “Over the last day militants continued firing at the ATO forces positions and at localities. In the last day they opened fire 103 times in total, and fired at peaceful localities three times,” said Leonyd Matyukhin, ATO spokesman via Skype at a briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
From the Luhansk direction, pro-Russian militants fired with small arms, artillery and mortars at Stanytsia-Luhanska, Valuyske and Petrivka. “Militants used small arms and a tank to fire at this locality,” stated Leonyd Matyukhin.“In the Donetsk direction, the following localities were fired upon by the enemy using mortars and artillery: Novolaspa (twice), Opytne, Petrovske, Taranchuk, Slavne and Mykolayivka,” noted the ATO spokesman.
The cities of Maryinka, Novotroyitske and Novomykhaylivka came under fire from BM-21 Grad missiles. From the Debaltseve direction, militants fired four times at Debaltseve, Luhanske, Maloorlivka and Popasna with small arms, mortars and artillery. Militants fired five times from the Zolote locality, and twice at Popasna and Mius. “At around 3 am the enemy started to assault in the area of Maloorlivka, and were repelled by the ATO forces and had to retreat. In the Mariupol area criminals fired at Orlivske and Chermalyk from small arms and mortars,” explained Matyukhin.
Over the last day, armed pro-Russian combatantsshelled Pisky and Hranitne with Grad multiple rocket launchers and artillery. “The servicemen of Ukrainian Armed Forces and of other military groups involved in the ATO stand firmly on their positions and rebuff the militants’ attacks,” emphasized ATO spokesman at the briefing.
