Situation in Artemivsk sector worsens at night| Ukrinform
KYIV, June 8 /Ukrinform/. On Monday night the situation in the area of the anti-terrorist operation has been escalated in the Artemivsk sector.
This is reported by the press center of the anti-terrorist operation.
In the area of the villages of Semyhyria and Pershe Travnia the mercenaries fired on Ukrainian positions with 122mm cannon artillery. In the same sector the militants three times shelled the village of Leninske with 120mm mortars.
Near the villages of Slavkovychy and Pershe Travnia the enemy fired on Ukrainian positions from tanks.
Near the village of Opytne, the town of Avdyiyvka and the Butivka mine in Donetsk region, and also, near the village of Shyrokyne in the Mariupol sector the militants fired on the positions of Ukrainian troops with 120mm mortars.
In addition, almost all along the contact line the enemy provoked Ukrainian soldiers to open fire, actively using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.
During the night, more than 10 overflights of the enemy's reconnaissance UAVs were observed in the ATO area, mainly near Luhansk and in the Artemivsk sector.
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Boat explosion on Sunday near Mariupol caused by IED – ATO press center
According to the preliminary findings of experts, the explosion of a vessel of the Ukrainian Border Service
near Mariupol on Sunday was caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), the press center of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) has reported.
"During the examination of the scene and the damaged boat, experts came to a conclusion that an improvised explosive device went off there," the ATO press center said in a statement on its Facebook page on Monday morning.
Boarder guard crewmen saw an unknown object in the sea, mistook it for a beacon buoy and tried to pull it towards the ship. At this point, the device went off, damaging the boat and injuring those onboard, the press center said.
"It should be noted that this is not the first such incident. Recently, a similar device was cast ashore near the village of Vynohradne. A fisherman who found it, was trying to take it apart, and this attempt ended tragically for him," the ATO press center said.
What both cases have in common is that the explosive devices were drifting from territory under the control of militants, in particular from the direction of the village of Bezimenne, as in both cases there was a strong wind from the east.
The Ukrainian State Border Service previously reported that a coastguard vessel of the Mariupol coastguard detachment, which had seven people onboard, exploded in the afternoon on Sunday for an unidentified reason while it was leaving the base. One person was killed, the ship's captain is still missing and five others are being treated in hospital.
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Ukrainian Defence Minister: Over 42,500 Russian soldiers and militants operate on occupied territory - read on - uatoday.tv
Ukrainian defence minister Stepan
Poltorak has said some 42,500 militants and more than 550 tanks are deployed on the territory of so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People Republics.
"The joint group of Russians and militants on the militant-controlled area consists of more than 42,500 troops (..) and more than 550 tanks", Poltorak said during the NATO-Ukraine Council in Kyiv on June 8.
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This amount of artillery is enough for the average European country", the defence minister added. Poltorak pointed out that Russia
remains the main organiser and sponsor of the war in east Ukraine.