Over the past day, Russia-backed militants on 29 instances shelled the positions of Ukrainian army in the area of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas. ATO forces on 16 occasions returned fire. Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and eight wounded in action, ATO press center said in a Facebook release on 21 July.
After 18:00 on Thursday, terrorists intensified fire in the Donetsk sector. From 19:00 and almost until 11:00 pm, the enemy fired 120-mm and 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers and small arms at the positions of the ATO forces in Avdiyivka from four different directions. The Ukrainian military by return fire subdued the enemy shelling.
After dark, the terrorists pounded the ATO strong points near the Butivka coalmine, forcing the ATO forces to fire back from grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.
"One of our military was killed, one wounded in crossfire," the ATO HQ note.
In the Luhansk sector, the militants violated the ceasefire near Stanytsya Luhanska at around 22:00, and near the village of Vodyane - in the Donetsk sector.
At about 5:00 on Thursday, the separatists pounded Krasnohorivka from tanks, and Krasnohorivka and Maryinka from Grads and artillery.