REUTERS
The combined Russian-separatist forces have attacked the Ukrainian troops 28 times since the beginning of Monday, January 18, with the use of almost all types of weapons, including those banned by the Minsk peace agreements, according to the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation's headquarters (ATO HQ).
"Out strongholds near the village of Starohnativka in the Mariupol sector were attacked by an infantry fighting vehicle and shelled from an anti-aircraft gun and a grenade launcher. The Ukrainian troops deployed near the village of Lebedynske came under mortar fire. Kremlin-backed mercenaries also attacked our military near the village of Vodiane with the use of 120mm mortars," the ATO HQ press service wrote on Facebook on Monday evening.
The ATO forces in the Donetsk sector were attacked from grenade launchers and large-caliber machine-guns. The militants were shelling the posts near the villages of Opytne, Pisky (close to the ruined Donetsk airport), and Butivka coalmine.
Ukrainian troops deployed not far from the town of Krasnohorivka came under fire from an anti-tank gun and mortars.
An infantry fighting vehicle was also shelling the Ukrainian strongholds near the village of Luhanske.
"To repel the illegal armed groups' attacks, our soldiers had to fire back along some stretches of the contact line, using the sanctioned weapons," the ATO HQ said.