Ukraine’s government blames the deaths on the Russia-backed separatists. All of the shelled towns are controlled by Ukraine.
The deaths add to the 12 civilians killed in Debaltsevo and three in Luhansk Oblast on the day before, Jan. 31, making the civilian death toll of the weekend raise up to 22 casualties. Only a week before the separatists’ shells killed 30 civilians in Mariupol, Ukraine’s stronghold in the south of Donetsk Oblast. Since then, civilians have been reported killed in shelling almost daily.
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As Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry report, all the civilian deaths were caused by shells launched from Grad and Uragan launchers.
Military losses mount too. Thirteen Ukrainian servicemen were killed and 20 were wounded on Feb. 1, adding to the 15 killed and 33 wounded on Jan. 31. The fightings go on in Donetsk Oblast near Debaltseve and in Vuhlehirsk, which is at least partly controlled by the separatists. According to the representatives of Azov and Donbas volunteer batallions, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive on Vuhlehirsk on Jan. 31 in an attempt to throw the separatist fighters out of the town, but failed. Three were killed in Donbas batallion. Its commander, parliament member Semen Semenchenko, has reportedly received a light injury.
As the casualties’ number rise in Donbas, another attempt to conduct peace talks within the trilateral contact group failed on Jan. 31 in Minsk. According to OSCE, the meeting was adjourned because the representatives of the separatists weren’t collaborative.
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