© AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky
Written by Chris Covert exclusively for SouthFront; Edited by Alexandros Spiliotis
Artillery attacks from Ukrainian forces in northern Donetsk and Lugansk continued well into the night of June 29th to June 30th, as well as into the next morning, according to Russian language news accounts.
One day after denying that the battle at Logvinovka ever took place, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday that rebel forces, after hours of fighting, were forced to retreat from Logvinovka after sustaining heavy losses. According to Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman, Colonel Andrei Lysenko, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and another 11 were wounded in the fighting.
Although rebel military officials say their side took no losses, the unofficial body count for the Ukrainian side in the fighting at Logvinovka climbed into double digits, according to a report that appeared in novorosinform.org. Ukrainian officials claimed rebel losses were as high as 23 dead and 34 wounded, according to a news account posted on lb.ua. Other reports absurdly place rebel losses to as high as 220. The exaggeration of the number of casualties is a common mistake in Western reportage of the fighting in southeastern Ukraine, due to the technical terms occasionally used by rebel and Ukrainian military officials.
Ukrainian military officials said that rebel artillery fire continued that evening until after midnight of June 29th to June 30th. In total, clashes in that area lasted 10 hours.
Rebel media said that Ukrainians fired artillery and mortars into rebel positions a total of 251 times, according to data supplied by Donetsk rebel military officials. Positions hit by Ukrainian artillery include Yasinovataya, northern Gorlovka, the Petrovsky district of Donetsk city, the Donetsk airport, and Spartak.
In southern Donetsk, near Mariupol, Ukrainian artillery struck rebel positions at Kominternovo and Sahanka.
Clashes in Lugansk
According to Lugansk ministry of defense spokesman Major Andrei Marochko, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions in several locations in the surrounding area of Lugansk on Wednesday.
Localities struck by Ukrainian artillery in Lugansk include Golubovska, Sokolniki, Lozove, Sanzharovka, Pervomaisk, Kalinovo, and Kalinovka. Ukrainian artillery fired a total of 259 shots, using 152mm artillery, and 120mm and 82mm mortars. No rebel casualties were reported.
Ukrainian officials say that concealed rebel artillery fire hit three locations in Lugansk: Krimskovo, Novozvanovki and Novoaleksandrovka.
According to Major Marochko, units of the Ukrainian 24th, 28th, 54th, and 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigades were involved in the artillery attacks on Lugansk.
A news account posted in regnum.ru, quoted Ukrainian ministry of defense spokesman Major Sergey Zhmurko as saying that rebel artillery fire hit Troiskoye, Berezovo and Novoselovka.
A separate novorosinform.org report quoted Lugansk commander Colonel Nile Nurulin as saying that the Ukrainian 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, apparently based in Schastye, on the left bank of the Northern Donetsk River, has become active and has started rotating combat units back into the area. The same report quoted Major Marochko as saying that Ukrainian forces in Lugansk have moved more heavy equipment into their frontlines, namely two BM-27 220mm rocket artillery launchers, two D-30 122mm towed artillery pieces, two 100mm T-12 towed anti-tank guns, and one 2S9 120mm self-propelled mortar.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
The SAS are still moving freely throughout Ukraine and the rest of Europe. SAS are going to keep this up till they bankrupt all their enemies. Or until someone hunts them down and makes them pay for committing acts of terrorism against people across the globe. http://en.farsnews.com/
Summer is here.