Illegal armed formations in Donbas attacked the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces participating in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) 64 times on Thursday, July 14, widely using large-caliber artillery systems, which are banned by the Minsk peace agreements, the ATO headquarters reported on Friday morning.

"In the past 24 hours, the Russian occupation forces shelled the ATO positions in Donbas 64 times. In particular, there were 38 shelling instances in the Mariupol sector, 20 in the Donetsk sector, and six in the Luhansk sector," the ATO HQ wrote on Facebook.

The ATO strongholds in the towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka in the Mariupol direction came under fire from 152mm artillery systems, which are banned under the Minsk agreements.

Militants also used 122mm self-propelled artillery systems to shell Krasnohorivka. Further, they lobbed 120mm mortar shells into Maryinka and the village of Shyrokyne, which is close to the Ukrainian-controlled strategic port city of Mariupol. The villages of Vodiane, Lebedynske and Berezove came under 82mm mortar fire.

The town of Avdiyivka remains the hottest spot in the Donetsk sector. Militants used 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers, large-caliber machine-guns, and small arms. They also used 120mm mortars to shell the village of Novoselivka Druha, while ATO forces in the villages of Opytne and Zaitseve were attacked with the use of 82mm mortars and grenade launchers.

The Luhansk sector saw both aimed and random fire focusing on in the villages of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Stanytsia Luhanska, and Novozvanivka.