Both Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry have reported widespread military action in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk’s regional military administration, said Russian rocket attacks on the city of Kramatorsk had destroyed at least eight residential buildings and educational and infrastructure facilities.
“Artillery shelling along the entire front line did not stop all night. The enemy fired most intensely in the directions Mariinka, Avdiivka and Ocheretyne,” Kyrylenko said.
All three cities have been heavily bombed in recent weeks but remain under Ukrainian control.
“No civilian casualties have been reported so far, but many homes have been damaged and electricity and gas supplies have been disrupted,” Kyrylenko said.
In neighboring Luhansk, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday that Russian troops “fired mortars, artillery and multiple rocket launchers at Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske and Zolote.”
“The enemy is deliberately targeting multiple floors and private households,” it added.
“Because of the shelling, 29 settlements remain without electricity, 38 settlements are without gas … There is no water supply in Rubizhne, Popasna.”
These towns and villages form a cluster of urban settlements that have been on the Ukrainian frontline for weeks and have suffered extensive damage. Ukrainian officials estimate that 70% of Severodonetsk has been destroyed.
Despite the fighting, some evacuations have continued.
Serhii Haidai, chief of Luhansk’s regional military administration, said 67 residents have been rescued from Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Popasna, Lysychansk and Hirske.
“The security situation is changing hourly. Where it was safe in the morning, Russian shells are now exploding,” Haidai said.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday that Russian forces had fired precision missiles around Ukraine, claiming to have destroyed 16 Ukrainian military installations overnight.
The statement alleged that Russian missiles hit five Ukrainian command posts, a fuel storage facility, three ammunition depots and personnel and military equipment. Most of the targets were in or around Donbas.
DailyExpertNews was unable to immediately verify those claims.
Authorities in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region, which borders Donetsk, say territorial defense brigades “fought the entire length of the front line”.
Zaporizhzhya’s regional military administration spokesman Colonel Ivan Arefyev said there had been Russian shelling of several villages just within the Donetsk region, including Staromayorske and Makarivka. Several settlements in the Zaporizhzhya region were also affected, he said.
“Russian forces use tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry. In addition, they bombard the settlements in the region with aviation, GRAD rocket launchers, small arms, 120-mm mortars and large-caliber machine guns,” Arefyev said, adding that “counter-offensive operations with the support of aviation, multiple rocket launchers, artillery, mortars, armored personnel carriers” were underway.
According to a DailyExpertNews analysis of the battlefields, most of the villages reportedly affected in Zaporizhzhya had not been previously targeted.
