DONETSK, October 27. /TASS/. The head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin said on Wednesday the Ukrainian forces had seized the village of Staromaryevka in the "grey zone" in the south of the disengagement line between the Ukraine-controlled territory and the Donetsk Republic.

"The status quo has been upset. A village located in the "grey zone" but at the same time depending on supplies from the Donetsk Republic has been seized," the Donetsk News Agency quotes Pushilin as saying. "Moreover, that village was often referred to as one of the options [for the establishment of a zone] of disengagement of forces."

The Donetsk Republic's Foreign Minister Natalya Nikonorova, the DPR's representative at the Minsk talks, said on Tuesday the Ukrainian forces were trying to take over Staromaryevka.

In the wake of the village's seizure by the Ukrainian forces, tensions have soared along the engagement line. Starting from the early morning and till late evening of October 26 Kiev's forces were dealing strikes in all directions, using artillery, mortars, armored personnel carrier-mounted weapons and grenade launchers.