Artillery attacks, especially coming from Ukrainian forces continued well into the night of June 29th to June 30th, and into the next morning in northern Donetsk and Lugansk, according to Russian language news accounts.
One day after denying the battle at Logvinovka even took place, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday that rebel forces, after hours of fighting, were forced to retreat from Logvinovka with heavy losses. According to Ukrainian defense ministry spokesman, Colonel Andrei Lysenko, Ukrainian forces lost one dead and 11 wounded in the fighting.
Although rebel military officials say their side took no losses, the unofficial body count for the Ukrainian side in the fighting at Logvinovka climbed into the double digits, according to a report which appeared in novorosinform.org Ukrainian officials claim rebel losses were as high as 23 dead and 34 wounded, according to a news account which appeared on lb.ua. Other reports, absurdly, place rebel losses as high as 220, which is a common mistake in western reportage of the fighting in southeastern Ukraine, due to the technical terms occasionally used by rebel and Ukrainian military officials.
Ukrainian military officials said that rebel artillery fire continued that evening until after midnight of June 29th to June 30th. In total, the fighting in that area lasted 10 hours.
Rebel media said that Ukrainians fired artillery and mortars into rebel positions a total of 251 times, according to data supplied by Donetsk rebel military officials. Positions hit by Ukrainian artillery include Yasinovataya, northern Gorlovka, the Petrovsky district of Donetsk city, at the Donetsk airport, and Spartak.
In southern Donetsk, near Mariupol, Ukrainian artillery struck rebel positions at Kominternovo and Sahanka.
Fighting in Lugansk
According to Lugansk ministry of defense spokesman Major Andrei Marochko, Ukrainian artillery hit rebel positions in several locations Wednesday.
Localities struck in Lugansk by Ukrainian artillery include Golubovska, Sokolniki, Lozove, Sanzharovka, Pervomaisk, Kalinovo, and Kalinovka. Ukrainian artillery fired a total of 259 times, using 152mm artillery, and 120mm and 82mm mortars. No rebel casualties were reported.
Ukrainian officials say that unsighted rebel artillery fire hit in three locations in Lugansk, in Krimskovo, Novozvanovki and Novoaleksandrovka.
According to Major Marochko, elements of the Ukrainian 24th, 28th, 54th, and 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigades were involved in the artillery attacks on Lugansk.
A news account which appeared in regnum.ru, quoted Ukrainian ministry of defense spokesman Major Sergey Zhmurko as saying that rebel artillery fire hit Troiskoye, Berezovo and Novoselovka.
A separate novorosinform.org report quoted Lugansk commander Colonel Nile Nurulin saying that the Ukrainian 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, apparently based in Schastye on the left bank of the Northern Donetsk River, has become active and has started rotating combat units back into the area. The same report quoted Major Marochko saying that Ukrainian forces in Lugansk have moved more heavy equipment into their forward zones, equipment including two BM-27 220mm rocket artillery launchers, two D-30 122mm towed artillery pieces, two 100mm T-12 towed anti-tank guns, and one 2S9 120mm self propelled mortar.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues.
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