Escalation in ATO: Nine Ukrainian soldiers killed

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO issues Andriy Lysenko said this at a press briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Urgent information on the events that took place at the front this morning, July 20. After 04:00 am, Russian-occupation troops used mortars, 122mm artillery, tanks and Grad-P systems to shell Ukrainian positions in Krasnohorivka area. According to preliminary information, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and other two were wounded due to this shelling," he said.

Lysenko added that during the past 24 hours, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed in Marinka (35 km south-west of Donetsk) as a result of military operations. In Novotoshkivske (53km north-west of Luhansk), three servicemen were killed and three were injured due to explosive device.

In addition, another Ukrainian soldier was killed during the shelling of Novhorodske (34km north of Donetsk).

In total, as of 11:00 am on July 20, 2017, militants launched 14 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in ATO area, eight attacks were launched from heavy weapons.

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