KIEV, February 19. /TASS/. Two Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and four injured in Donbass, the Defense Ministry of Ukraine said in a statement on Saturday.
"As a result of shelling, two Ukrainian servicemen received fatal fragmentation wounds. Four servicemen received injuries of varying degrees and are now in hospitals," the statement says.
The Defense Ministry also said its forces "control the situation in Donbass and respond adequately to potential threats."
The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse in the morning of February 17. The DPR and LPR reported some of the most intensive shelling by Kiev forces in recent months. There have been no reports of casualties but the shelling damaged some civilian facilities.
On Friday, the leaders of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR), Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, announced the evacuation of the republics’ inhabitants to Russia, citing the increasing threat of hostilities. All-out mobilization was announced in the republics on Saturday.
The Donetsk People’s Republic mission to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination reported that 49 shelling attacks occurred in the past 24 hours, and 667 projectiles were fired the self-proclaimed republic DPR.