Russian proxies don't cease fire / Photo from ATO press center
The Ukrainian troops participating in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine were attacked 40 times by Russian-backed militants from 00:00 to 18:00 local time on Friday, July 24, according to the ATO press center.
At the same time, the ATO press center reported that illegal armed groups had started using heavy weapons less frequently.
However, the combined Russian-separatist forces do not cease fire and shell the ATO forces from tanks, mortars, howitzers, and small arms.
Thus, at 02:45 local time, an enemy tank started firing on the ATO forces near the village of Pisky, which is not far from the destroyed Donetsk airport, and the attack lasted for more than an hour. "At 04:30, firing on our positions from a 120mm-caliber mortar was heard near the town of Krasnohorivka, and it continued for half an hour. At 14:05, the ATO forces near the village of Novhorodske were under 122mm howitzer fire from the side of the occupied town of Horlivka," the ATO press center wrote.
What is more, Kremlin-backed mercenaries were firing from small arms and mortars on the town of Maryinka, areas around the Donetsk airport, including Pisky, as well as the villages of Luhanske, Lozove, Chermalyk, Opytne, and the town of Popasna.
"The Ukrainian soldiers have courageously and firmly been holding their defensive positions," the press center said.