Russian proxies attack ATO forces 90 times overnight

The situation in the Donbas conflict zone deteriorated significantly by the end of the day.

The combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 90 times overnight, using banned artillery systems 14 times, mortars 31 times, tank shells five times and multiple rocket launchers once, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

"The situation in the Donbas conflict zone deteriorated significantly by the end of the day. The illegal armed groups did not observe the Minsk agreements and used weapons of more than 100mm caliber along the demarcation line," the press center said.

"The enemy was most active near the Ukrainian-controlled port city of Mariupol. At the end of the day, the militants started firing 120mm on our positions in the villages of Starohnativka and Novoselivka Druha, and twice in the village of Chermalyk. At 18:00 Kyiv time, the mercenaries started firing 152mm artillery systems on ATO forces in the village of Prokhorivka from the militant-controlled village of Starolaspa. In addition, after 22:00 Kyiv time, they were firing 152mm artillery systems on our units in the villages of Orlovske, Lebedynske and Starohnativka. At 21:05 Kyiv time, the occupiers started firing Grad multiple rocket launchers on the Ukrainian positions in the village of Bohdanivka," the report reads.

The situation was also tense near the militant-controlled city of Donetsk. The Russian proxies fired 120mm mortars, infantry fighting vehicles and large-caliber machine guns several times on ATO forces in the town of Maryinka.

"At 19:30 Kyiv time, the Kremlin-backed mercenaries started firing tank shells on the village of Troitske in the direction of Artemivsk. And at about 21:00 Kyiv time, they started firing 120mm mortars and infantry fighting vehicles on the Ukrainian armed forces in the village of Zaitseve," the press center said.

From midnight to 06:00 on August 27, the militants continued shelling on the villages of Bohdanivka and Starohnativka not far from Mariupol with the use of artillery systems.