REUTERS

The Azov regiment's press officer nom de guerre 'Croat' told Channel 5 by phone that the fight had been lasting for almost five hours on Saturday.

According to him, the militants wanted to take advantage of OSCE observers' presence in Shyrokyne and attempted to approach the Ukrainian military's positions. They attacked the forward group of the Azov regiment by firing from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns.

"Our troops started firing in exchange. A fight broke out. Our soldiers killed one militant. And then they started shelling our positions with the use of grenade launchers, heavy machine guns. The attack has been lasting for several hours," 'Croat' said.

Two Azov soldiers were wounded in the fight; one of them has got serious injuries.

As was earlier reported, a fight near the village of Shyrokyne lasted for more than four hours with the use of grenade machine guns, 120mm caliber mortars, heavy machine guns and small arms. Monitors from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine left Shyrokyne as soon as the attack began.

Watch here a Vice News episode about one of OSCE monitors' recent visits to Shyrokyne: