Russian-backed militants have stepped up attacks on Ukrainian positions throughout the combat zone in eastern Ukraine, according to military officials, who said the heaviest shelling was reported early on April 27 near Mariupol.
Serhiy Danylenko, military spokesman: “From from 18:00 Kyiv time on Sunday to midnight on Monday, pro-Russian militants shelled the positions of Ukrainian troops 23 times, the In Donetsk region, militants fired from 120mm-caliber mortars on the ATO forces near the village of Pisky three times and near the town of Avdiyivka twice. The enemy also used 122mm-caliber artillery systems to attack the positions near Avdiyivka twice.”
Kremlin officials, meanwhile, continues to deny that it is arming and funding the anti-Ukrainian forces, who begain fighting the Ukrainian government more than a year ago after a mass uprising ejected Ukraine’s disgraced former President Viktor Yanukovych from office.