The central part of government-controlled Avdiyivka came under heavy artillery fire during the night, and the local rail station was seriously damaged, the press center of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas said on Wednesday.

"The rail station in that populated locality suffered substantial damage. Rail traffic was suspended after an electric substation was hit, the track was ruptured, and contact wire was impacted," the press center said on Facebook, with reference to the Ukrainian mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination.

A mortar shell hit a room housing the track's electric control station in a three-storey building of the Avdiyivka rail station's dispatcher office at 5 a.m., police of the Pokrovskyi district of the Donetsk region said. The track lost power, and arrivals in Avdiyivka stopped.

The dispatcher was not hurt. The police said that the traffic was limited to Ocheretyne and trains could not reach Avdiyivka.

An investigative team of the Avdyiivka police department is working at the bombardment scene. Railroad workers are repairing the damage.

A criminal inquiry was opened under the 'terror attack' article of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.