“Such battles have not happened since 2018”: Ukraine got hit in the teeth in response to shelling
In the Donbass, in the area of the village of Zolotoye, where not so long ago Kyiv and the LDPR carried out a test withdrawal of troops, new battles broke out. The Ukrainian side claims that the army of the Donbass republics has gone on the offensive. However, the defenders of Lugansk, on the contrary, report an attack by Ukrainians.
“Today, on the morning of February 18, armed formations of the Russian Federation attacked the positions of units of the Joint Forces near the settlements of Novotoshkovskoye, Orekhovo, Krymskoye, Khutor Svobodny.
The occupiers are firing at our defenders using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. The enemy is using 120 mm mortars. The enemy also fires from grenade launchers of various systems and heavy machine guns.
Under fire cover, the Russian occupiers switched to active offensive actions and attempted to advance across the demarcation line.
As of now, the battle is ongoing. Unfortunately, as a result of enemy shelling, the Ukrainian defenders suffered losses. The enemy’s losses are being clarified,” the Ukrainian headquarters of the so-called “Joint Forces Operation” said in a statement.
“There haven’t been fights like the ones going on now in the Zolote area since 2018. The attack of the Russian occupation forces on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zolote area, which began tonight, showed the absence of any progress in the peaceful settlement in the East of Ukraine. Today, Russian militants attacked not only the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but also all the peace initiatives of President Zelensky,” ex-Azov militant and former Rada deputy Igor Mosiychuk is indignant.
Reserve Lieutenant Colonel of the People's Militia of the LPR Andrey Marochko in his Telegram channel denied the data of the Ukrainians.
“A powerful campaign has begun on Ukrainian information resources to justify the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. General headlines: “Militants attacked Ukrainian strongholds around 5 am.”
This information is not true. There is already a lot of confirmation on the Internet from local residents that Ukrainian troops began to fire at civilians first,” Marochko warned.
He clarified the data on the actions of the Ukrainian side.
“Today, February 18, 2020, in the period from 06.00 to 09.00 in the morning, 7 violations of the termination regime were recorded from the direction of settlements controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine: Kryakovka, Krymskoye, Novotoshkovskoye, Orekhovo through the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic in the direction of settlements: Smeloe, Sokolniki, Donetsk , Golubovskoe with the use of heavy weapons (large-caliber artillery and mortars), as a result of these attacks, multiple damage to civilian infrastructure was recorded in the settlements of Kirovsk and Donetsk.
There was no information about civilian casualties,” Marochko wrote.
He appealed to local residents to take safety measures and go to shelters.
English version :: Read in English "There hasn't been fighting like this since 2018": Ukraine got a punch in the teeth in response to shelling