DONETSK/KYIV. March 5 (Interfax) - Three Donetsk militiamen were killed in a Ukrainian attack near the dividing line in Donbas on Friday. Ukraine reported one serious injury by hostile sniper fire.
The Ukrainian troops have carried out three attacks since midnight, killing three militiamen and injuring one, the militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said on Friday.
The DPR militia had obtained permission for "preemptive fire" against Ukrainian army positions.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Joint Forces has reported three ceasefire violations by the enemy on Friday and one injured serviceman.
The enemy opened indiscriminate fire from a rifle grenade near Pesky and fired small arms near Avdiivka, the Forces' press center said on Facebook.
Near Maryinka, an enemy sniper injured a Ukrainian serviceman, who was hospitalized in serious condition, it said.
The armed conflict in Donbas broke out in 2014 following a change of administration in Ukraine. As a result, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics uncontrolled by Kyiv were formed in a part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine on the border with Russia. The unrecognized republics are separated from the rest of Ukraine by a so-called contact line based on the Minsk Agreements.
The parties are conducting settlement talks in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. Settlement in Donbas is also being discussed by the so-called Normandy group, which consists of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France.
Recently the situation in Donbas has worsened again. Despite the current ceasefire, attacks on the conflict line have risen, with losses reported more often by both sides.