MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Ukraine’s armed forces have relinquished their positions in the vicinity of the Donetsk airport’s landing strip which has led to significantly reduced intensity of attacks against Yasinovataya, and the Kievsky and Kuybyshevsky districts of Donetsk adjacent to the airport, an officer of the DPR’s People’s Militia told Channel One on Monday.
"Gradual progress towards Avdeyevka is underway at the moment, the adversary has left [their] positions behind the landing strip of Donetsk airport and this has already significantly reduced the shelling from 122-mm caliber weapons towards Yasinovataya and in the direction of the Kievsky and Kuybyshevsky districts of Donetsk," Andrey Bayevsky said.
He added that the city of Makeyevka which is adjacent to Donetsk in the east has not been attacked with 122-mm caliber weapons for over a month so far since they are now out of range thanks to the fact that the DPR forces managed to push back the Ukrainian positions. According to the officer, the DPR’s People’s Militia has been successfully gaining ground toward the populated localities of Maryinka, Peski and Pervomaysk.
"These relatively small advances have dramatically changed the picture of the shelling of the Donetsk People’s Republic," he said. "By now, we see that the amount of ammunition launched [by the Ukrainian army] at our populated localities has diminished to no more than 250 munitions per day. Earlier, this amount could reach even 600 munitions per day," the officer added.
Bayevsky said that lately, the Ukrainian forces made two attempts to advance toward the Peski populated locality not far from the airport from the direction of the communities of Pervomayskoye and Vodyanoye. These attacks were repelled by the DPR’s People’s Militia, according to him. "Our guys [remain] at the same positions and even with some small advance, they continue to carry out their combat tasks, there were no positive changes for the Ukrainian armed forces except that [they] lost personnel and equipment," the DPR’s People’s Militia officer said.
The situation in the Donetsk direction has remained unchanged with the airport being controlled by the DPR forces, the republic’s head Denis Pushilin told TASS on Sunday. On Saturday, Commander of the Sparta battalion Artem Zhoga (codename Kolyma) disclosed that the claims that the Ukrainian forces had taken control of the airport were false.