Ukrainian military fire heavy artillery guns, mortars in Donbas - Donetsk and Luhansk
DONETSK/LUHANSK/KYIV. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) recorded over 760 instances of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the past 24 hours; a civilian woman was injured, Eduard Basurin of the DPR Defense Ministry said.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the territory of the republic 761 times in the past 24 hours. Of this number: heavy artillery guns were used 17 times, mortars of different calibers - 282 times (of which 91 120mm mines), infantry combat vehicles - 47 times, anti-aircraft launchers, grenade launchers and small arms - 415 times," Basurin said at a briefing on Sunday.
Nineteen DPR populated areas were shelled, he said.
"Yesterday, on February 25, a woman from the Krasnyi Partyzan populated locality, Yasynuvata district, suffered a mine-blast injury of medium severity and a head fragmentation injury in the shelling from a 120mm mortar," he said.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces fired over 320 mines and grenades against the territory of the self-proclaimed DPR in the past 24 hours, the LuhanskInformCenter reported referencing to self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) People's Militia spokesman Andriy Marochko.
Fifteen instances of shelling from the Ukrainian side were recorded in the past 24 hours, the militia spokesman said. The Sokolniki, Kirovsk, Zolote, Lohvynove, Kalynivka, Kalynove, Nyzhnje Lozove populated localities were shelled.
"120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms were fired. In all, 322 mines and grenades were fired against the territory of the Republic," he said.
"The Ukrainian side continues to provoke the People's Militia units to open fire in order to blame them for the disruption of the Minsk Agreements," the LPR militia spokesman said.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces 24th brigade units have waged the gunfire with provocative goals from the Zolote populated area under control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the Molodizhne populated area on February 24. It is reported that at the time the Ukrainian Channel Five filming crew was staying on the Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in order to make a video record of the retaliatory fire. But People's Militia servicemen did not react to a provocation and did not open the retaliatory fire," Marochko said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesman for the military operation in the east of the country Andriy Lysenko said that four Ukrainian servicemen were injured; no one was killed in Donbas in the past 24 hours.
"No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, four of our combatants were injured in the hostilities in the past 24 hours," Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Sunday.
