Kyiv, February 2, 2016. Zaitseve crossing point will be temporarily closed starting February 3. “This decision of ATO Staff and Donetsk Region Military-Civil Administration has been caused by regular militants’ shelling of the adjacent territories,” said Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman of Presidential Administration on ATO-related issues at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. A truck carrying humanitarian freight for Donetsk residents from a regional charity organization proceeded yesterday through Zaitseve crossing point.
The situation remained tense in the past 24 hours along the entire frontline, especially in the Donetsk sector. “The outskirts of Horlivka, Zaitseve, Maiorsk, Novhorodske became the area of the most intense combat activity. Militants were conducting intense shelling non-stop there. Militants used heavy armor – 82-mm and 120-mm mortar launchers on the northern outskirts of Horlivka and in Pisky. Militants launched several dozen mortars,” informed Col. Motuzyanyk. Militants shelled ATO forces’ positions on the second line of defense on the outskirts of Horlivka and Donetsk. Moreover, militant’s snipers were shooting at Ukrainian troops’ positions in Luhanske settlement, Dacha and Avdiivka villages.
Militants violated the ceasefire in Mariinka in the Mariupol sector, where ATO forces’ positions came under sniper fire. Moreover, a firefight between Ukrainian troops and militants took place near Pyshchevyk settlement. “The fight lasted around one hour, then the hostile subversive reconnaissance group retreated eastwards,” said the spokesperson.
The armistice held in the Luhansk sector. “Ukrainian Armed Forces incurred no losses in combat, two troops were wounded,” informed Col. Motuzyanyk.
A large-scale special operation with participation of Ukraine’s Security Service, National Guard, police and border guards took place in Shchastia. A weap ons cache was found in an abandoned building containing 4 kg of gunpowder, 450 g of explosives, three grenades with blasts and large number of cartridges of various calibers.
A cache in Zolote, Luhansk region, was found apart from the weapons cache in Shchastia. It contained about 19 thousand cartridges of various calibers, seven grenade launchers and nine shells for a rocket anti-tank launcher. Another cache was discovered in Nyzhnie village in the Luhansk region. “Three RPG-22 grenade launchers, two missiles for RPG-7 grenade launcher and a large number of 7.62-mm armor-piercing ammunition were seized from the cache,” informed the spokesman.
A man actively spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda materials in social media was detained in Zaporizhzhia. “The criminal was communicating personal data, addresses and phone numbers of Ukrainian activists to Russian special services,” elaborated Col. Motuzyanyk.
