Main news of Donbas: Day of National Guard of Ukraine; shellings do not cease in ATO zone

Reports from the front:

There were 39 attacks on the ATO forces’ positions in the Donbas on March 25. Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, PA spokesperson on ATO related issues, reported that two Ukrainian soldiers perished, eight were wounded and three more injured when they tripped a mine in the ATO zone.

News from the territory which is controlled by the Ukrainian government:

On March 26, Ukraine celebrated Day of National Guard. A decree on establishing the holiday was signed by President Petro Poroshenko on March 18, 2015. According to information presented by Poroshenko, 180 National Guard servicemen have perished in the Donbas since the beginning of the ATO. 



A shell hit a residential house during militants’ shelling of the village of Zaitseve. A 70-year-old woman was wounded. Vyacheslav Abroskin, Chief of the National Police in the Donetsk region, reported that militants used artillery with a caliber of 120 mm. 15 houses were destroyed.

The National Security and Defense Council discussed the sanctions list against the people who were involved in Nadiya Savchenko kidnapping and trial. Those who are responsible for fabricating charges against Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko,

Stanislav Klykh, Mykola Karpyuk and others Ukrainians who are illegally inprisoned in Russia are to be added to the list as well.

News from the occupied territory:

Ruslan Grinberg, Russian economist, hopes that Prsident Volodymyr Putin will stop getting mixed up with the so-called “Novorossia” as it is dangerous for Russia. The economist noted that the international community will not lift the sanctions unless the conflict in the Donbas is over. 



The OSCE SMM has been observing the facts which could prove the fact the Russian Federation is involved in the Donbas conflict since the beginning of the mission’s activity in Ukraine.

“We have written in our reports that we have observed armed people with the Russian Federation insignia. We have also talked to people who said that they were soldiers of the Russian army”, sais Aleksander Hug, Deputy Head of the Mission.

The total number of the OSCE SMM monitors working in the Donbas is 608. Coal mines of occupied Siverodonetsk can terminate their work. 25 mines of the town have been working in a standby mode (dewatering only) since March 25. Social networks report that on March 26, the first miners’ shift did not go to work.There is also information that Igor Plotnitsky, head of the “LPR” faction, is blocking the work of mines as he wants to get a tax from coal mining.

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