Main news of Donbas: Lenin blown up in Donetsk; entrepreneurs' rally in Luhansk; 66 attacks on Ukrainian positions

Reports from the front

The number of militants' attacks on Ukrainian positons has increased dramatically. ATO press centre repoted on Facebook that the enemy was using all kinds of weapons in Maryinka vicinity.

News from the territory controlled by Ukrainian government

A position of deputy head of the regional administration is to be introduced in six regional state administrations of Ukraine (including the Donetsk and Luhansk regions). «Interfax-Ukraine» reports that Gennadiy Zubko, Minister for Regional Development, Building and Public Utilities, informed that deputy head will be responsible for cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and law enforcement bodies.

The position of deputy head of regional state administrations who will be responsible for decentralisation and transferring authority from ministries to local communities is to be introduced as well.

Ukrainian mobile operators were reminded about the ban to receive calls from cell phone carriers which operate on the occupied territories, including «Lugacom» and «Phoenix». National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization reports that mobile companies from the occupied territories illegally use a mobile code +38072. The code +380 officially belongs to Ukraine.

Reports from the occupied territory

On January 27, at night, the foundation of the monument to Lenin was blown up in Lenin Square in Donetsk. The video shot by a DPTV correspondent shows the consequences of the explosion. Lenin figure was not damaged.

On January 27, in occupied Luhansk, businesspeople held a rally against the so-called «Taxation Code» for both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The «law» is to provide money for «L-DPR» budgets at the expense of businesspeople at the time when the industry on the territory is practically palalyzed. Representatives of the occupational administration, but not «LPR» head Ihor Plotnitskiy, met with the rally participants. Plotnitskiy is not in Luhansk at the moment. After the rally, «DPR» head Zakharchenko said that the taxation «law» should be reviewed.

Observers of the OSCE SMM have no access to the parts of the Ukrainian-Russian border controlled by militants, according to Alexander Hug, First Deputy Chief of the OSCE SMM, as it was informed by «Interfax-Ukraine». They can get to the border in the Donetsk region, but it is impossible to get to the checkpoints in the Luhansk region, according to Hug.