Ukrainian army observes militia's intensive drone activity, regular shelling incidents
KYIV. Dec 10 (Interfax) - Donetsk airport remains the focal point of tensions in the Donbas armed conflict zone; there has been a rise in militia drone flights, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters on Thursday.
"Tensions flare near Donetsk airport where the enemy has returned to the tactics of round-the-clock attacks on our positions. True, heavy armaments are being used on the Avdiivka-Pisky frontline only sporadically but hostile snipers have been very active there," Motuzyanyk said.
Nine drones were seen flying in the Donbas conflict zone (all of them in the Donetsk region, for instance, near Avdiivka and Mariupol), he said.
The militia used infantry combat vehicles, small arms and grenade launchers near the town of Luhanske in the Donetsk sector, and Ukrainian army positions came under attack from 120mm mortars and various types of grenade launchers in Novhorodske, Motuzyanyk said.
The militia thrice used various types of grenade launchers and an 82mm mortar on the Shchastya-Trekhizbenka frontline along the Severskyi Donets River in the Luhansk region, he said.
Krasnohorivka was the epicenter of confrontation on Wednesday, the presidential administration spokesman said, adding that multiple mortar and tank shelling incidents were observed there.
Four Grad rockets were fired on Ukrainian positions in the town of Kurakhivka, twelve kilometers from the frontline, he said. According to operative information, the militia keeps Grad-P (Partizan) launchers close to the contact line and fires them from time to time, he said.
A clash between Ukrainian army servicemen and the militia occurred near the village of Novotroitske in the Mariupol area on Wednesday. In addition, two attacks by use of 82mm mortars and a series of grenade launcher shots were observed in Shyrokyne on Wednesday.