MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - Russia's Investigative Committee is planning to investigate the Ukrainian military's activities in Staromarivka, a village on the Donbas conflict line inhabited by Russian citizens among others, the Committee's spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
"The chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee has instructed its main investigative directorate to open a criminal case. The inquiry will give a legal evaluation of the actions of the troops who gave and carried out orders to launch multiple attacks on Donbas infrastructure, and other illegal activities in respect of the Russian citizens," Petrenko told reporters on Tuesday.
She recalled that there were media reports earlier on Tuesday about the Ukrainian military activities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, "who carried out numerous artillery attacks on villages in Telmanove district, presumably from 122mm weapons." The attacks "damaged a gas pipeline, transformer substations and other infrastructure, lots of buildings, including a school and a hospital [which] remained without electricity. Also, it was noted that Ukrainian troops had seized Staromarivka, where DPR citizens live alongside Russian ones. After that the Ukrainian troops began illegal home searches and arrests," Petrenko said.
"The evidence gathered by the Investigative Committee could be used in the future during trials for these crimes," she said.
Earlier there were some media reports that Ukrainian troops had seized Staromarivka, a village in a grey area in close proximity of the Ukraine-controlled village of Hranitne.
The two are separated by the Kalmius river. According to social media users, there is a pedestrian bridge and Staromarivka residents - about 150 people - walk across to use a shop, hospital and school in Hranitne.
The DPR Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that "the Ukrainian army has tried to take over the populated locality of Staromarivka located on the contact line in the Telmanove district."
For its part, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) representative in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian army had advanced into the buffer zone in Staromarivka on Monday.
"Yesterday there was yet another armed provocation in breach of all current arrangements, namely: the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the safety zone in southern DPR, near the village of Staromarivka," the representative stated on Tuesday evening.
The DPR representative in the JCCC also said there was a Ukrainian artillery attack on Telmanove this afternoon. "As a result, 12 transformer substations lost power, leaving a hospital, a school, a boiler room and over 350 households without electricity. A water-service plant was also hit," the statement said
The Ukrainian military dismissed reports that they seized control over a village on the conflict line in Donbas, saying their positions have remained the same.
"Thanks to the efforts of Ukrainian troops, the boundaries of our units have remained the same," the Joint Forces Operation said on Facebook on Tuesday.
"The Joint Forces command says that this information is false. This is yet another attempt by Russian illegal armed formations to discredit and accuse Ukraine of violating the dividing line. (...) The Ukrainian military positions remain the same," it said.
The JFO also accused "Russia's irregular armed formations in the certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions" of ceasefire violation "precisely in that area."
On Tuesday, Ukraine reported seven enemy attacks between midnight and 5 p.m.: three in Hranitne (in Volnovakha district, Donetsk region), one in nearby Pavlopil and Novozvanivka (Popasna district, Luhansk region), Krymske (Novoaidarsk district) and Troitske (Yasynuvata district, Donetsk region).
As a result, one Ukrainian JFO serviceman was killed and another injured, the JFO staff said.
The Ukrainian troops "opened return fire," the military said.