"The militants are firing from tanks and mortars at point-blank range. Close combat is going on. We will stand! We must stand! Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)," Deidei wrote.
There were unconfirmed reports on social media of artillery and rocket strikes being made on the town by the militants, with at least one building being set on fire. Other reports said the fighting had died down by 1130 on Monday.
As reported earlier, fierce fighting took place near the town of Maryinka last Wednesday, with the battle lasting for about ten hours. According to doctors, about 30 soldiers from the Ukrainian armed forces were injured. It was also reported that one civilian had been killed and another three injured.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the militants sent more than ten tanks and up to 10,000 people in the direction of the town of Maryinka. The offensive was supported by 2S1 Gvozdika 152-mm self-propelled artillery systems. In other areas, the militants fired on the positions of the Ukrainian army with guns and heavy mortars of calibers that should have been withdrawn from the front line weeks ago under the Minsk peace accords.
It was also reported that the Ukrainian side had to use heavy artillery to fend off the Russian-backed militant attacks.
As reported earlier, Deputy Commander of the Dnipro-1 Battalion Valentyn Manko wrote on his Facebook page that, according to intelligence sources, the militants had deployed a lot of weapons near the village of Baturyne, the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Pisky and Pervomaiske.
He said that if the militants manage to break through the Ukrainian defensive line, there was a risk that Ukrainian forces could be surrounded in the area of Pisky, Karlivka and Avdiyivka.
