KIEV, July 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian combat aircraft have resumed fire support for pro-Kiev forces conducting a military operation in the country’s southeast, National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko said on Wednesday.

Combat aviation flights were suspended on Tuesday to investigate a recent crash of an An-26 military and transport plane of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Luhansk Region on July 14 but were subsequently resumed, he said.

“And now aviation is supporting our units in localities that are the scene of especially fierce fighting,” he said.

Self-defense fighters said earlier on Wednesday the Ukrainian aviation was delivering strikes against the settlement of Saur-Mogila in the Donetsk Region.

“Ukrainian aviation is delivering a series of strikes against Saur-Mogila. Now a third wave of strikes is under way. Air defense systems are conducting fire against the aircraft and launches from portable air defense guns have been made,” the local news agency Novorossiya said.

Troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.