Militants of illegal armed formations have fired positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) area 44 times, as a result of which one Ukrainian serviceman has been injured, the press center of the ATO headquarters has reported.

"Tensions continued to escalate last night. Ukrainian strongholds came under 44 attacks, including 21 instances of random fire. One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded during the day," the ATO staff said on Facebook.

In the Donetsk sector, five attacks by the militants on Ukrainian army positions using infantry combat vehicle weapons, grenade launchers and heavy machineguns were seen after 6 p.m. near Zaitseve; the militants attacked the Avdiyivka industrial zone thrice and twice fired on Ukrainian army strongholds near Mayorske.

In the Mariupol sector, the militants mounted three attacks using small arms and five mines of 82mm caliber on the vicinity of Pavlopil, while small arms were used near Hnutove, Talakivka, Lybidynske and Shyrokyne, and a grenade launcher shelled the Maryinka area, the report said.

In the Luhansk sector, at about 21:00 Kyiv time, cynically disregarding ceasefire agreements and deliberately endangering civilians, the Russian-backed mercenaries started firing small arms on the Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint. Despite full readiness to return fire, the ATO forces did not open fire in response, thus fulfilling ceasefire agreements and showing restraint for the sake of peace. "This fact once again confirmed that the militants do not wish to observe the ceasefire in this area, which had to begin the process of "mirror" withdrawal of troops," the ATO HQ said.