2 Ukrainian soldiers killed by sniper in Donbas amid talks in Minsk

Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed by a sniper and one more has been wounded in action in Donbas in the previous 24 hours, according to Oct. 15 evening statement by Ukraine’s Joint Forces command in the war zone.

In general, 10 incidents of opening fire have been recorded, with Russian-backed forces engaging the Ukrainian lines with 82-millimeter mortars proscribed under Minsk agreements, as well as with grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms, the message reads.

The Ukrainian ranks sustained new lethal casualties in the wake of yet another meeting the Trilateral Contact Group consisting of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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The new round of talks in Minks on Donbas resulted in negotiators failing to reach an agreement on a schedule for the previously-agreed mutual disengagement of warring manpower and weapons near the Donbas frontline towns of Petrivske and Zolote, according to OSCE’s envoy to the Minks talks Martin Sajdik.

Sajdik also said that the parties would reach progress soon.

However, he added that the number of armed clashes in Donbas had increased drastically.

“Unfortunately, I can’t speak positively of the ceasefire regime,” he told on Oct. 15. “The number of violations has spiked.”

The Ukrainian party in the talks asserted that Russian-backed militants kept violating the ceasefire, specifically in the Petrivske and Zolote areas, while at least 7 days of total silence is required for initiating the process of mutual disengagement, according to Darka Olifer, the press secretary of the Ukrainian envoy to Minsk Leonid Kuchma, ex-president of Ukraine.

Also, the Ukrainian delegation demanded that some occupied areas of the Donetsk Oblast, namely near the towns of Kalmiuske, Novoazovsk, Sakhanka, and Kumacheve, be demilitarized, with Russian-backed forces withdrawing their heavy weapons, Olifer also said on her Facebook page on Oct. 15.

But, according to the press secretary, the enemy forces “are not pulling heavy artillery off the contact line, and deploying tanks and mortars to the front instead.”