SLOVIANSK, June 4. /ITAR-TASS/. Militia fighters have shot down a helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force near a local brick factory in Sloviansk, a militia representative told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday.

"Thick black smoke is rising over the district between the brick factory and the Sloviansk resort," he said.

 

Tuesday's clashes in Sloviansk

On Tuesday, June 3, people’s militia in the city of Sloviansk, east Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, have downed a fighter plane Su-25 and a Ukrainian helicopter gunship as well as four armored personnel carriers (APC), Sloviansk People’s Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

Ukraine's military has amassed armored vehicles and self-propelled mortars and howitzers near the town of Sloviansk, Stella Khorosheva, spokeswoman for the Sloviansk people's mayor, told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

The military equipment numbering 100 units includes Grad salvo systems, Khorosheva said.

An An-30 plane has been sighted over Sloviansk, making periodic flyovers. According to Khorosheva, clashes began at around 6.00 am local time on Tuesday.

"A report said that Ukrainian troops had broken through in the area of the village of Semyonovka," she said, adding that Ukraine's National Guard was using tanks.

"It looks like they've brought here all their army and (military) equipment," she said.

 

Air strikes at Semyonovka settlement

On Wednesday, Ukrainian aviation has delivered a new strike at the village of Semyonovka near Sloviansk, a people's militia representative told ITAR-TASS.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian fighters and helicopter gunships delivered at least five strikes at Semyonovka and the village of Cherevkovka.

After a relatively calm night, the Ukrainian military resumed shelling the town, with artillery guns firing at one- to two-minute intervals.

Fierce fighting between people's militia and Ukrainian servicemen around Sloviansk continued throughout Tuesday. Ukraine’s National Guard began to shell Slavyansk approximately at 06.00 am local time, and attack aircraft fired at the nearby settlements of Semyonovka and Cherevkovka.