Unknown attackers blew up a railway bridge near Donetsk on Monday. It was the main route connecting central Ukraine and eastern regions of the country, Reuters reports. At the same time self-defense forces of eastern Ukraine announced that as of now they will have their own assault aviation and anti-aircrat guns which they seized from the Ukrainian army.
For three months now there are ongoing armed clashes in eastern Ukraine between self-defense forces and the national guard. Kiev announced that it intends to take the territory of Lugansk and Donetsk regions under state control. Only the previous Monday Ukrainian army forced the militia fighters to retreat from Slavyansk surrendering the town to the Ukrainian army, which Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko called a turning point.
After being forced to retreat to Donetsk, hundreds of armed self-defense fighters have vowed to take a stand next time. According to the press service of the Donetsk People's Republic, all men under 35 have afterwards been arrested in Slavyansk.
The self-defense forces now have a Su-25 assault plane at their disposal, TASS cites the defense minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic Igor Plotnitsky as saying on Monday.
"We seized a Su-25 plane from the Ukrainian army when it was making an emergency landing. It will be ready to go into battle again after minor repairs. The army of the Lugansk People's Republic has got its own aviation," Plotnitsky announced.
However,he did not name the area where the aircraft had been seized or did he say from where it was going to take off after the repairs.The Su-25 Frogfoot is an armored all-weather subsonic assault aircraft designed to support land troops day and night and have been in use since 1981.
Meanwhile, the Donetsk People's Republic has come into possession of anti-aircraft artillery guns. Donetsk residents said on Monday that they saw two trucks with fighters armed that were with anti-aircraft guns leaving in the direction of Karlivka village in the Petrovsky district.
Also refer to: Donetsk, Lugansk siege by Kiev troops to destroy peace process in Ukraine's southeast - DPR
A line of resistance with the Ukrainian army is running in Karlovka which is only 20 kilometers away from Donetsk. People's militias have set up checkpoints at all exits and entrances to Donetsk.
"It is possible to go in and out of the city. Checkpoints have been set up at all transportation arteries. However, they are not hindering the movement by civilians, including cars," TASS cites the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic a saying on Monday.
"Shops, banks, enterprises and social service institutions are working in the routine mode. The situation in the city is calm. There is no panic in Donetsk. Many people who wanted to leave the city for fear of military hostilities in its territory have decided to stay," the press service said.
Meanwhile the situation in Lugansk remains critical. Heavy artillery fire once again rocked on Monday the city, where several people were killed and several buildings damaged, a source from people's militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said to ITAR-TASS that Grad multiple launch rocket systems were used.
Fire was opened on the city at about 4 pm Moscow time (12:00 GMT). Video footage by eyewitnesses in the suburbs showed salvo fire of at least 30 missiles fired towards Lugansk, they said. "It is believed Ukrainian military were targeting the building of an air force academy, which is currently housing a military unit of people's militia," the source said. Reports said one of the shells had hit a vehicle, killing several people inside.
It was also reported that simultaneously the military unit had been pounded from the airport of Lugansk, still under the control of Ukraine's National Guard. "Within an hour after the shelling began, militia opened return fire from mortars, after which the artillery shelling of Lugansk stopped," people's militia sources said.
Also refer to: July 4-5: Donetsk, Lugansk voted for freedom, received genocide
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against federalization supporters. The operation in Ukraine's embattled south-eastern regions, which involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation, has already resulted in hundreds of deaths, destroyed buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia.
After a brief ceasefire announced by Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko on June 20 and terminated by him on June 30, military attacks of the pro-Kiev forces on the country's south-eastern regions resumed.
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