Shelling of Avdiivka: There Are Casualties

The shelling of Avdiivka, Donetsk region, started again on February 2nd at around 7:30 pm. The town has been shelled for five days so far.

As a result, two people died: a worker of the Emergency Service and a woman.

Donetsk is also under fire. A shell fell near the hotel “Motel”, which caused a fire.

Alexander Hug, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine confirmed for Hromadske that firing is heard from both sides.

2:32 a.m. Kyiv time: Avdiivka is still under fire, Oleksandr Lebid, an assistant to the Civic Military Administration of Donetsk Region of Ukraine told Hromadske.

“Shelling continues; residential areas are also shelled. I had a call from a police chief. He says there is no new information about fatalities. We have two dead people and two wounded: The Head of the Emergency Service in Avdiivka and a photographer are wounded. We have no power. […] 52 buildings were damaged in a day, and today, another 25 because of shelling. People do not gather in the emergency shelters because they are also being shelled,” he told Hormadske.

As at  12:01 am   Kyiv time, shelling hasn't stopped, says the head of the Avdiivka Military-Civilian Administration Pavlo Malykhin. He also confirmed the death of a civilian woman and a worker of the Emergency Service and added that the journalist, who’s face had been wounded, was taken to the hospital.

11:10 pm Kyiv time:  Alexander Hug, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine confirmed for Hromadske that firing is heard from both sides. He announced that the number of victims can be confirmed only in the morning.

According to him, OSCE plans to examine the areas, which were damaged tonight.

Donetsk has also been shelled for three days. People say that the areas once thought to be safe are now fired at.

“A shell hit a five-story building in Avdiivka. Nobody was hurt. A school, where the humanitarian aid center used to be, was also hit. A car of the State Emergency Service was in the field. The driver was killed and his colleague was wounded. A local woman died in a hospital. Also, an emergency shelter was fired at by the artillery,” an assistant to the Civic Military Administration of Donetsk Region of Ukraine Oleksandr Lebid told Hromadske at 10:35 pm Kyiv time.

At  10:02 pm Kyiv time, the head of the Donetsk civil-military administration Pavlo Zhebrivskiy reported about the shelling of a five-story building and a school where an Emergency Service worker died and his partner was wounded.