Fresh clashes between Ukrainian army units and Russian-backed forces broke out on June 7 near the front-line town of Krymske in Luhansk Oblast, about 640 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
By the afternoon of June 7, seven Ukrainian soldiers were reported to have been injured in the fighting. One was reported to have been killed.
According to Ukraine’s military press service, the fighting started at 6 a.m., when Ukrainian army positions were shelled by enemy 152-millimeter artillery and 120- and 82-millimeter mortars.
Heavy fighting is continuing along the P-66, the east-west road dividing the opposing forces, which runs just 2 kilometers south of Krymske. Ukraine’s military says army units continue to man defensive positions in Krymske, without returning fire.
“The intensity of fire upon the Ukrainian entrenchments is being amplified with AGS-17 automatic grenade guns and SPG-9 stationary grenade launchers (over 120 grenades), anti-tank guided missile units, high-caliber machine guns and firearms,” the report says. “The enemy is engaging drones for directing artillery fire. One of them was downed by Ukraine’s servicemen.”
The Russian-backed forces are very active at their entrenchments near the village of Frunze, 9 kilometers south of Krymske, Ukraine’s military said, adding that the activity of enemy infiltration groups in the area has increased.
The recent hostile activity in the area could be a sign that Russian-backed forces are preparing for an advance, Ukraine’s military claims.
The local authorities say a water supply pipeline was damaged in the town of Novotoshkivske just west of the area of fighting, and several civilian houses were reported to have been hit by shrapnel from shells. Due to the rising danger, all children could be evacuated from the town soon, according to the acting head of the civilian-military administration of Novotoshkivske, Dmytro Kondratiev.
Conflicting claims
Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade claimed on June 2 to have advanced further into the no-man’s land near Krymske and taken up new defensive positions closer to enemy lines near the P-66.
Meanwhile, Semen Kabakaev, an activist and volunteer with the StopTerror investigation group, said that heavy fighting with intense artillery shelling had continued all day long near the Russian-occupied town of Zhelobok, 4 kilometers east of Novotoshkivske, and 8 kilometers to the west of Krymske.
At least ten militants had been killed in the most recent clashes in the area, he wrote on his Facebook page on June 7.
Russian-backed combat groups also reported major fighting for Zhelobok, with tanks, IFVs and infantry being used by the Ukrainian army, according to a statement by Andriy Marochko, a senior spokesperson for Russian-backed forces in the occupied part of Luhansk Oblast.
The nearby villages of Donetskiy, Holubivske, and Berezivske were to be evacuated as well, the pseudo-authorities in occupied Luhansk Oblast said on June 7, Russia’s Life News reported.
The spokesperson of the Ukrainian military press center in Avdiyivka, Anton Myronovych, denied that Ukrainian forces were engaged in an offensive near Krymske.
“The Ukrainian armed forces stick to the Minsk agreements, and are not making any advances beyond the agreed contact line, although they are suffering casualties amid fresh shelling by militants,” Myronovych told the Kyiv Post.
