Donbas sees peak of 152 attacks by Russian proxies in last weeks

The combined Russian-separatist forces intensified their attacks over the last few weeks and fired almost all types of weapons on Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 152 times on August 12, including 102 times in the area of the militant-controlled city of Donetsk, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

"It is worth noting that yesterday alone the Kremlin-backed mercenaries fired artillery systems 20 times, mortars 32 times, Grad multiple rocket launchers 15 times, and grenade launchers and small arms 100 times along the line of contact," the report reads.

"The tensest situation was in the area of Donetsk. From 20:47 to almost 22:00 Kyiv time, the militants were firing Grad multiple rocket launchers, having attacked on ATO forces not far from the village of Pisky [near the destroyed Donetsk airport] four times. They also fired 120mm mortars on this village three times. In the evening, the town of Avdiyivka came under militant fire from 120mm mortars five times and 122mm artillery systems three times. At 21:40, 22:00, and 22:40, the mercenaries started firing Grad rockets on the village of Opytne," the report says.

In the area of the Ukrainian-controlled city of Mariupol, the Russian proxies started firing artillery systems at 18:00 Kyiv time on ATO fortified positions near the villages of Lebedynske, Starohnativka, Talakivka and Pavlopil. In addition, at 21:20 and 22:10 Kyiv time, the militants were firing on Starohnativka, and at 22:33 Kyiv time they started using Grad multiple rocket launchers to shell Talakivka.

"At around midnight, the militants were firing mortars, 152mm artillery systems, grenade launchers and infantry combat vehicles on ATO forces near the village of Kirove in the Artemivsk sector," the press center said.