Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action and one wounded in combat over the previous 24 hours, the Joint Forces Operation press center reported in its morning communique on Sept. 19.
“The Russian occupants opened fire upon our troops’ positions 25 times,” the message reads.
“In two incidents, (the attacks commenced) with the use of weaponry prohibited under the Minsk peace agreements.”
According to the military, the enemy used 120- and 82-millimeter mortars, as well as infantry fighting vehicles, various types of grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms.
Clashes were reported at the frontline hotspots of Stanytsya Luhanska, Krymske, Novotoshkivske (all located near the occupied city of Luhansk), Luhanske, Pivdenne, Pisky, Novotroitske (in the outskirts of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk), and near the villages of Starohnativka, Pavlopil, Vodyane, Lebedynske, and Shyrokyne near the Ukrainian-held stronghold port city of Mariupol.
In the early hours of Sept. 19 there were three more clashes, but there were no casualties among Ukrainian troops, Ukraine’s military said.
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian military intelligence, three enemy fighters were killed in action, and more five were wounded.
The latest Ukrainian casualties in Russia’s ongoing war in the Donbas ended a four-day period of relative calm in the war zone starting on Sept. 15, during which Ukrainian forces sustained no loses.
The fighting in Ukraine’s east continues despite the declaration on Aug. 29 of the so-called “back-to-school ceasefire.” There have been dozens of such attempts to halt the fighting in the Donbas over past four years of war, but all have quickly failed.
The total death toll among Ukrainian troops since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in the Donbas in April 2014 is now approaching 2,900.
