Donbas militants intensify attacks, three Ukrainian soldiers wounded in action

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions mainly in the Mariupol and Donetsk sectors, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA) as of 18.00 on September 30, according to the press service of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters.

Photo from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry


"Since the early hours of Saturday morning, the militants have opened fire three times from various types of grenade launchers and small arms on the Ukrainian defenders in the south-eastern outskirts of Avdiyivka. Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded amid shelling at 12:45 local time. Pro-Russian mercenaries used the same weapons near Butivka coal mine at night. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of the enemy attack on the ATO forces near the village of Pisky," the report said.  In the Mariupol sector, the situation remained tense near the village of Vodiane, where the occupiers used grenade launchers and large-caliber machine guns three times. The Ukrainian strongholds near the villages of Bohdanivka and Shyrokyne came under enemy fire as well. "Simultaneously with the shelling of Ukrainian positions, which confirms the enemy's non-compliance with peace agreements, the militants continue to impede the process of restoring Donbas infrastructure. At the moment, the anti-damage protection of the dam at the phenolic plant in the village of Novhorodske, as well as gas pipeline branches in the town of Maryinka and the village of Krymske requires urgent repairs. The facilities are in close proximity to the contact line," the ATO HQ said. At the same time, failure to perform reconstruction work could lead to an aggravation of the humanitarian situation and contamination of adjacent soils on both sides of the contact line.



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Russia’s accusations against Ukraine over death of OSCE monitor in Donbas absurd - MFA Ukraine

Ukraine stresses the absurdity of Russia’s claims that the Ukrainian forces were to blame for the tragic death of an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s observer, a U.S. citizen, in a militant-controlled area in Donbas in April 2017, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna said, addressing the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council September 28, 2017.

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The Ambassador stated that the safety and security of the OSCE SMM “must definitely remain a priority for all OSCE participating States, which established this Mission. “One of these States, the Russian Federation, tries to escape its responsibility for serious incidents with the SMM monitors in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by its hybrid forces, including the tragic incident of 23 April 2017 near Pryshyb,” said Ukraine’s envoy. “Today we heard the absurdity of so-called conclusions drawn by Russia from the report of the external investigation into the incident. Evading responsibility was the aim of the Russian side when it announced its idea on the deployment of the UN peacekeeping operation, which would be limited only to the protection of the SMM monitors,” Prokopchuk said. As reported earlier, Russia’s envoy to the OSCE at the Permanent Council’s meeting Sept 28 blamed Ukraine in the death of an OSCE monitor in the occupied part of Luhansk region. UNIAN memo. On April 23, 2017, the car of the OSCE mission patrol was blown up on a mine outside the village of Pryshyb in the part of Luhansk region controlled by Russian proxy forces. An OSCE observer, U.S. citizen Joseph Stone was killed in a blast while observers from Germany and the Czech Republic were injured. Right after the tragic incident, the Kremlin-controlled media have resorted to exploiting the death of an OSCE monitor for propaganda purposes, accusing Ukraine military of shelling the site where the landmine hit an OSCE patrol vehicle and claiming that Kyiv was impeding the investigation. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry responded to the accusation and dismissed it as groundless and fake. And interactive map developed by the Ukraine Crisis Media Center that tracks fighting in the occupied eastern territories shows that Ukrainian armed forces have not shelled any areas around Pryshyb, the village in Luhansk oblast where the OSCE vehicle hit a mine. On Aril 23, all shelling in Luhansk province took place in the area of Stanytsia Luhanska and Valuiske, areas held by the Russian-backed militants, according to Stopfake.org. During an April 24 briefing about the mine incident, OSCE Ukraine Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug did not mention any Ukrainian obstruction into the investigation, nor did he say that the area was being shelled.

German officials had concerns over possible full-blown war between Ukraine, Russia

There were several occasions throughout the Ukrainian-Russian conflict when German foreign ministry was concerned that an actual war could break out between the two countries, spokesman for the ministry Martin Schaefer said at his last press conference in office before resignation, Deutsche Welle reports.

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"There were two or three situations in the Ukrainian crisis when we were seriously afraid that war would start between Russia and Ukraine," he said, according to DW. Speaking in Berlin on Friday, Schaefer announced that he was leaving his post after seven years in office as a speaker for the German foreign ministry. He worked under three ministers. Now he is appointed Ambassador of Germany to the Republic of South Africa.
Earlier in the German foreign ministry assured that the parliamentary elections held on September 24 would not cause a shift in the country’s foreign policy toward Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a peacekeeping mission, which the UN could deploy in Donbas should have access to all territories controlled by Russian proxy forces.

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