The headquarters of the Ukrainian military reported two soldiers were killed and seven were wounded by shelling from Russian-backed separatists near the village of Vodiane in Donetsk region.
“According to updated information, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the Mariupol sector,” the headquarters said in a press statement posted on Facebook on March 20.
According to the Ukrainian government’s press office for the military operation in the east, separatists shelled the positions of Ukrainian forces in the area of Vodiane, Volknovasky district, Donetsk region with GRAD multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery weapons forbidden under the terms of the Minsk peace agreements.
The headquarters said that separatists fired forty 152mm shells, forty 122mm shells and fifty-five 120mm mortars. In addition, the militants fired 65 missiles using BM-21 multi-rocket launchers.
The headquarters said Ukrainian forces near Vodiane engaged diversionary groups of the separatists in the region.
“At 09:30 [a.m.] near Vodiane two enemy groups numbering up to 40 individuals approached our positions. Ukrainian troops repelled the enemy, which retreated. At the same time, Ukrainian units moved forward. The enemy then used multiple-rocket launch systems and heavy artillery and retreated to its positions,” the statement says.
Earlier on March 20 the Ukraine military press center reported one soldier killed and eight wounded as a result of the shelling by separatists of Ukrainian forces near Vodiane.
