Forty-five Ukrainian soldiers killed, 145 more wounded over a year of ‘truce’

“Next week, we will mark one year since additional measures aimed to put an end to the armed hostilities along the line of contact in Donbas entered into force. In this period (until 14 July this year), which was supposed to be a peaceful one and a strong basis for further progress on security, the Russian armed formations violated ceasefire 1,938 times, 464 of which with the use of Minsk-proscribed weapons,” Ambassador Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on July 15.

Over this period, the Russian-occupation troops shelled residential areas 27 times, while 100 cases of use of UAVs and 44 cases of remote planting of mines, including the banned anti-personnel ones, were recorded.

“Forty-five Ukrainian service members were killed, 145 more soldiers were wounded,” the Permanent Representative of Ukraine said.

He noted that the violations of the Minsk agreements by Russia continued unabated. On July 13, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six more wounded. Most of these casualties happened as Russian armed formations fired 152mm and 120mm artillery. On Thursday, July 15, three more Ukrainian soldiers were wounded.

The Russian armed aggression launched in eastern Ukraine in 2014 has already claimed the lives of about 14,000 people, including more than 4,000 Ukrainian service members.

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