Writing on his page on Facebook on Monday, Tymchuk said that there had however been a marked decrease in militant attacks during the elections in the breakaway districts of Luhansk and Donetsk on November 2.
Over the day, there were about 15 instances of the shelling of Ukrainian army positions, and one attack on a checkpoint near the southern Donetsk coastal city of Mariupol, Tymchuk wrote.
Last week Tymchuk claimed that the militants had finished forming several powerful strike groups made up of local militants, Russian mercenaries and Russian regular troops. He said one such group was responsible for forcing Ukraine’s National Guard to retreat from its checkpoint No. 32 near Smile in Luhansk region.
Militant leaders have said they will press on with their military attacks, with the aim of taking more Ukrainian territory, including Mariupol. They have also been attacking on an almost daily basis Donetsk airport, which is still in Ukrainian hands after months of fighting, in violation of the September 5 Minsk Protocol peace accords.
