Militants used Grad rocket launchers and mortars in Mariupol sector - HQ

Militants have opened fire on the positions of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) forces in east Ukraine 22 times over the past 24 hours, the press center of the ATO headquarters has reported.

"In general, illegal armed groups have violated the ceasefire 22 times over the past 24 hours. The ATO forces fired back during 17 attacks," reads the report.

At the end of the past day, Russian occupation groups were mostly active in the Mariupol sector. The enemy used there not only mortars of various types, but also the weapons that had to be withdrawn from the line of contact in line with the Minsk agreements. 

Last evening, militants fired at Ukrainian positions near Shyrokyne from a Grad-P Partizan multiple rocket launcher, grenade launchers and a large-caliber machine gun for about an hour. Later, near the same village, the enemy used an 82mm mortar. From 18.00 to 20.00, the enemy launched 38 Grad rockets at the stronghold of the Ukrainian army near Talakivka. In addition, again demonstrating their criminal attitude to the civilian population and grossly violating the norms of international humanitarian law, in the evening the occupiers fired twice from 120mm mortars at the residential sector of the village of Vodiane.

At the end of the day, in the Donetsk sector, the enemy fired twice from grenade launchers and large-caliber machine guns at Ukrainian fortified positions on the outskirts of Avdiyivka and Nevelske. The positions of the ATO forces also came under enemy fire near the Butivka coalmine, Zaitseve, and Mayorsk.

In the Luhansk sector, in the evening and at night militants fired four times from a grenade launcher and small arms at Ukrainian defenders on the outskirts of Triokhizbenka. Ukrainian fighters responded to the enemy with dense fire. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of this confrontation, at about 18.00. 

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