Two Ukrainian ATO officers killed yesterday, three wounded in Donbass

Two servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed, three received gunshot wounds in the anti-terrorist operation in the east of Ukraine on July 3. This was announced by the ATO HQ press office.

Militants launched 22 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area in Donbass over the past day. The intensity of enemy artillery fire along the entire line of contact decreased relatively, but such attacks did not stop.

The Russian-backed illegal armed groups used weapons eight times in the Mariupol sector. In particular, the occupiers fired 82mm mortars at the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Vodiane in the evening. Shortly after, the invaders used hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers there. The militants also opened fire from cannons of infantry fighting vehicles not far from the village of Shyrokine. Furthermore, the Ukrainian positions near the villages of Novotroyitske, Hnutove, Lebedynske and Pavlopil came under fire from small arms and heavy machine guns.

"Yesterday, we reported dense artillery shelling of the ATO positions near Hnutove in the morning. We found out during the day that the invaders had also used 122mm Grad-P portable rocket launchers there", -the headquarters said.

After enemy sniper groups became active in the Donetsk sector along the Svitlodarska Duha bulge, the militants violated the ceasefire in the southern outskirts of the town of Avdiivka, and near the villages of Opytne and Maiorsk last night, using only infantry weapons, namely grenade launchers of various modifications, heavy machine guns and small arms. In total, seven enemy attacks were recorded in this direction in the last day

In the Luhansk sector, seven instances of enemy shelling were recorded as well. The enemy did not use artillery systems along this stretch of the contact line yesterday. But again, the Ukrainian fortified positions near the villages of Novozvanivka, Stanytsia Luhanska, Donetskiy, Zhovte and Valuiske were attacked with the use of grenade launchers and small arms. Moreover, an enemy sniper was active near the village of Novotoshkivske before dawn.

Ukrainian soldiers had to fire back in some cases when there was a threat to their life, the ATO HQ said.