Dmitry Tymchuk: Updates from the ceasefire zone, 9/18

March 8 – 1 Ukrainian military was killed and 3 were injured in the last 24 hours in the ATO area, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

March 8 – Official Kyiv is ready to communicate with the representatives of Donbas – with those, who will be elected as a result of legitimate elections, but not with the warlords, – said Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystayko: "At this point in time, there is a need to unite Ukraine, which is torn to pieces by our neighbours and thus we are ready to meet the needs and take into account the opinions of local people in these regions. But we cannot and will not talk to the warlords".

March 8 – During the night of March 8th, the intensity of provocative attacks by the militants decreased, but they violated "silence regime" 6 times, – informs ATO's press-centre. The enemy is using aerial reconnaissance – over the last 24 hours air defence forces have recorded the activity of 6 remotely piloted aircraft.

March 8 – "Since the annexation, Putin's most important objective was to create a giant military base in Crimea, not a gambling zone, where in addition to the fleet, there is strategic aviation, air defence, space forces, coastal missiles and nuclear weapons", – writes a journalist and human rights activist Andriy Klimenko (Crimea). According to him approximately 100 thousand troops will start serving at the peninsula over the next two years and there "should not be any disloyal residents – e.g. Crimean Tatars, journalists, community activists – all those who do not want to receive Russian passports and want to keep Ukrainian one. This will continue, unfortunately".

March 8 – Armed Forces of Ukraine have completed the fourth stage of withdrawal of heavy weapons from the combat contact line in Donbas according to Minsk agreements, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko: "We have completed the fourth stage of withdrawal of heavy weapons from the contact line. Earlier we withdrew 100-mm anti-tank guns – "Rapira" and "Ruta", MLRS "Grad" and "Uragan".

March 8 – In Luhansk Region during the period of carrying on of fighting activities, during the shelling of residential areas, eight churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which do not belong to the Moscow Patriarchate, were harmed "Ruined churches with destroyed altars and icons – a visible affirmation of what kind of "Orthodox World" the Russians and their mercenaries in Donbas are fighting for," Head of the Luhansk Region State Administration. Henadiy Moskal.

March 8 – Russia poses a serious threat to the safety of Europe and the European Union should continue a decisive policy of counteraction in regards to Kremlin.

This is presented in the article of the Head of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Margot Valstrem, published in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. "We saw how Russia, without any hesitation, sent advanced armed force units across the border in order to support the separatists, who with weapons attempted to fight with the Ukrainian forces and increase their control over the territory of Ukraine," notes the Minister.

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