Militants have fired 44 times at Ukrainian positions in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, wounding four Ukrainian soldiers, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Colonel Maksym Prauta has said.

He said at a briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center on Tuesday that eight cases of shelling were recorded in the Luhansk sector, four of them near Luhanske and the rest near Valuiske, Novhorodske and Troitske. Militants used infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms of various types and calibers.

Militants shelled Ukrainian positions 36 times in the Donetsk sector.

"The enemy showed greatest activity near Avdiyivka, Verkhniotoretske and Maryinka," Prauta said.

In the area of Novotroitske and Butivka mine, militants opened fire twice from 120mm mortar, launching 11 mines of this caliber at Ukrainian military.

Militants also used 82mm mortars near Verkhniotoretske, Lebedynske, Talakivka and Butivka mine.

"Our strongholds near Avdiyivka, Verkhniotoretske, Vodiane, Hnutove, Kamianka, Krasnohorivka, Maryinka, Lebedynske, Opytne, Pavlopil, Pisky, Pyschevyk, Talakivka, Taramchuk, Shyrokyne, as well as Butivka mine, came under fire from small arms, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers of various types and infantry fighting vehicles," Prauta added.

According to him, as of 09:00 on May 1, militants fired at Ukrainian positions twice in the Luhansk sector and four times in the Donetsk sector. They used grenade launchers and small arms.