Two Ukrainian soldiers killed, two injured in ATO zone in past 24 hours

Two servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed and two more suffered injuries in the hostilities in Donbas in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said.

"Two soldiers of ours were killed and two more were wounded in hostilities during the day," he told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

The vicinity of Krymske, where the hostiles thrice used armored vehicles and machineguns, was the flashpoint in the Luhansk sector, Motuzianyk said, adding that provocations were also observed in the Stanytsia Luhanska area.

In all, the ceasefire was breached six times in the Luhansk sector over the past day, he said.

In the Donetsk sector, hostiles attacked Ukrainian army positions all along the frontline, and the only calm sector was the Donetsk airport. Shelling incidents have been ongoing on the Svitlodarsk bulge, where the total duration of hostile fire approached six hours and 50 mortar mines were fired, Motuzianyk said. Small arms and grenade launchers were fired near Horlivka, and an assault was attempted near Kruta Balka, where hostiles retreated after a 30-minute clash, he said.

In all, 15 violations of the ceasefire were seen in the Donetsk sector over the past day, including three instances of use of heavy weapons, he said.

Two-thirds of attacks launched in the Mariupol sector occurred in the Pavlopil-Shyrokyne area, where hostiles were employing heavy weapons only, he said. Besides, armed provocations were observed in Maryinka, Krasnohorivka and Novotroyitske, he said.

Twenty-nine attacks by the hostiles were seen in that area during the day, Motuzianyk said.