KYIV. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The militia began a storm of the Donetsk airport on Friday morning. The situation has been complicated since late September 2014, Ukrainian presidential advisor Yuriy Biryukov said.
"Stabilization was achieved last night and the status quo was restored by the arrival of reinforcements. Yet a fierce storm began in the morning and our servicemen have been wounded [there is no information about possible fatalities so far]. The fighting is ferocious and the intensity of combat and the situation there are the worst that I have been aware of in the entire period [since late September]," Biryukov wrote on Facebook as of 11 a.m. local time (Moscow noon).
He said conferences continued all through the night and on Friday morning at the General Staff and the army operation headquarters. "On one hand, there is a firm decision to hold the Donetsk airport. On the other hand, we should dare to do what was discussed two months ago," he added.
In turn, head of the information center of the army operation staff in eastern Ukraine Roman Turovets told Interfax there was a fight at the Donetsk airport at noon (1 p.m. Moscow time) but Ukrainian servicemen controlled the site.
"The militants started hostilities in the morning. The storm goes on. Our servicemen continue to defend the terminal and are not planning to leave the airport. We are fully supporting them, first and foremost, with fire. The situation is complicated but stable," Turovets said.
"The airport is ours," army operation spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
Interfax does not possess related information from the DPR militia.
Kyiv refuted the militia taking control of the Donetsk airport on Friday morning. "Ukrainian servicemen control the Donetsk airport. There has been relative lull in the area since 8 p.m.," the army operation press center wrote on Facebook.