Tensions have escalated in the anti-terrorist operation zone in southeastern Ukraine and the opponents of the Ukrainian army have doubled the number of their attacks, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk has said.

"Hostilities in eastern Ukraine have intensified again, after a brief period of lull. The number of attacks on our positions […] has doubled. There is no massive use of heavy artillery but […] the situation remains complicated in the Donetsk and Luhansk sectors," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

In the words of Motuzianyk, the opponents of the Ukrainian army became active near Stanytsia Luhanska and Schastia and several violations of ceasefire were observed near the towns of Donetske and Zolote.

According to the representative of Kyiv, there are ongoing mortar strikes on Ukrainian army positions and shootouts near Luhanske, where an attack of a sabotage-and-reconnaissance group has been deterred.

With the exception of several mortar attacks, including one near the Fenolna rail station by the town of Novhorodske, all is relatively calm in the Horlivka area.

Motuzianyk quoted operative data and said that the opponents of the Ukrainian army were rotating their units in that area.

Shootouts continued near Maryinka all through the day, and the situation around Donetsk airport remained static.

The representative of Kyiv reported repeated use of heavy armaments by the opponents of the Ukrainian army in the Mariupol sector. Mortars and grenade launchers shelled positions of Ukrainian servicemen in the areas of Hranitne and Novohryhorivka.

A number of armed incidents involving mortars and tanks occurred near Pavlopil during the night.

"The front was stable in the Shyrokyne area. Engineer reconnaissance is in progress in the razed populated locality, which will be demined afterwards," Motuzianyk said.