Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov has announced that during recent battles near the town of Svitlodarsk the Armed Forces of Ukraine counter-attacked enemy troops, moved forward and took new positions.
The new positions ”have become an additional advantage over the enemy in that defense sector,” Turchynov said on Wednesday while visiting the front line where the 54th brigade has managed to repel enemy attacks.
”For the fourth day in a row, our positions have continuously been shelled with the use of artillery systems and large-caliber mortars that are banned by the Minsk agreements. They have set a kind of a new `record` in terms of the number of bombs and shells lobbed onto our positions near the so-called Svitlodardka Duha bulge – over 800 per day,” he said.
”Despite repeated attacks and attempts to break through our defense, the Ukrainian military have courageously and professionally fulfilled their duty, having stopped the enemy troops and inflicted heavy losses on them,” he added.
Earlier, the Anti-Terrorist Operation Headquarters said that the Svitlodarska Duha budge with the village of Luhanske being an epicenter had been a ”hotspot” for several consecutive days.
The so-called Svitlodarska Duha is a stretch between the militant-controlled town of Horlivka and the town of Svitlodarsk in Donetsk region.
Meanwhile, the Trilateral Contact Group at Donbas peace talks in Minsk on December 21 set a new deadline for a ”comprehensive, sustainable, indefinite” ceasefire from 00:00 Kyiv time on December 24, 2016, pending the Christmas and New Year holidays.
At the recent round of the peace talks in Minsk, Ukrainian representatives also demanded the disengagement of troops and equipment in the occupied town of Debaltseve, which is close to the Svitlodarska Duha, insisting on the contact line agreed on September 19, 2014.
See also: ”Three fire raids”: Armed Forces of Ukraine reveal details of battle at Svitlodarska Duha
