Fierce battles took place last night near the town of Ilovaisk, some 40 km from Donetsk. Militia managed to repulse the attack of security forces on the strategically important town.
In the area of the village of Zelenoye, a large grouping of the National Guard of Uktraine was blocked. The situation remains extremely serious, a native of the town, the commander of the defense of Ilovaisk said. "They try to infiltrate, but we have been holding the line for two weeks already. For each of my fighters we will destroy 100 soldiers of the Ukrainian army. We are stronger!" the man enthusiastically said, vesti.ru reports.
Constant bombardment has turned the town into ruins. People live in basements and shelters without water, bread and medical supplies.
"This is very scary. We would go out at first, but they shoot and bomb up there all the time. We have no water left. We would go out just for a minute, to breathe some fresh air. There is no way we can evacuate from here," a woman, who has been living in a basement for two weeks said.
Traces of the use of phosphorous bombs - white patches on the pavement - can be found near the local hospital. At the same time, Ukrainian media reported that there were no civilians left in Ilovaisk. In fact, those who did not leave or run away - they are all hiding in dungeons.
"According to the Ukrainian television, there are no civilians in the town. But you can find them in each basement. People live there with small children - there are at least 5,000 people here, and all of them hide in basements.
"I did not expect anything else from them. They don't care about the people, they don't care about the land. People were living here for years, and this is not their fault that they settled in the Donetsk region, where some people do not want to obey Nazis. All of a sudden, all those people became terrorists. We will see who of us is a terrorist," the head of local self-defense said.
Ilovajsk and its surroundings is an important strategic point in the offensive on Donetsk.