Today at 19:43
A column with humanitarian aid from representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees humanitarian convoy of the Red Cross came under fire from militants in Donbas. This happened when the UN representatives were passing the checkpoint on the contact line. Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valery Zaluzhny reported this on Facebook.
“Today at about 12:00 Russian occupation forces fired on the Shchastia checkpoint in the Luhansk region, where a humanitarian convoy was moving from the uncontrolled territory,” Zaluzhny wrote.
According to him, the militants used a large-caliber machine gun (about 50 shots), an 82 mm mortar (3 shots), and AGS-17 grenade launchers (10 shots).
“Four cars from the humanitarian convoy passed the checkpoint, people were evacuated to a shelter. Eight cars remained in the interposition zone,” Zaluzhny said.
Since the beginning of February 18, Russia-backed militants have conducted over 40 attacks against Ukraine’s positions and civilian settlements.
Read also: Escalation in Donbas heightened: Militants attack more than 20 Kyiv-controlled settlements
February 17, the situation in the Donbas conflict area worsened after a relative lull. As reported earlier, Russia-backed militants shelled a number of civilian facilities, including a school and a kindergarten. Russian occupation troops fired Stanytsia Luhanska, a Kyiv-controlled settlement in the Luhansk region, with heavy artillery weapons. The shells hit the building of a kindergarten. Two civilians were injured. Local train station, as well as locomotive depot came under shelling too. The station and depot workers were not injured. One diesel locomotive was damaged. Depot buildings were targeted as well.
