KYIV. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Two Ukrainian troops have been killed and some wounded in the zone of the special operation in Donbas in the past 24 hours, Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian presidential administration on military issues, said.
"Two of our soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in military action and provocations in the past 24 hours," he told a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
He said the situation on the contact line worsened in the past 24 hours.
"The conflict in eastern Ukraine continued escalating in the past 24 hours. The enemy continues actively using heavy weapons on the Donetsk and Mariupol tracks, including tube and reactive artillery," Lysenko said.
Specifically, he said attacks continue near Stanytsia Luhanska and Schastia.
"In the Horlivka area, there is exchange of fire between the enemy and the Ukrainian military along the entire division line around the occupied city, from the Svitlodar reservoir to the village of Novhorodske. The situation is the most difficult in the northern part of the city where the enemy is opening fire on our positions using large-caliber mortars, artillery and tanks," Lysenko said.
On the frontline from Horlivka to Yasinovata, the epicenter of the fighting last Sunday, according to him, were the villages of Verkhnotoretske and Troitske.
Over 50% of all ceasefire breaches by the militia were registered on the Avdiyivka-Opytne-Pisky-Krasnohorivka-Maryinka frontline, Lysenko said.
On the Mariupol track, the main fighting is focused on the Bohdanivka-Starohnativka-Hranitne contact line. The militia are using 120 mm mortars and howitzers, opening fire on the Ukrainian positions from a distance of up to 10 km, both in the daytime and at night, he said.