Nine Ukrainian servicemen wounded, receive combat injuries during shelling of Avdiyivka area, city – Ukrainian side in TCG

KYIV. Aug 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – As a result of shelling in the Avdiyivka area on Saturday, August 9, nine Ukrainian servicemen were wounded and received combat injuries, according to the Ukrainian delegation to participate in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG).

"During today’s shelling of the Avdiyivka area and the city itself, nine Ukrainian servicemen were wounded and received combat injuries. During the shelling, the enemy used mortars and artillery of 120 and 122 mm caliber, respectively, which is prohibited by the Minsk agreements. The enemy did not react to the JCCC’s demands to ceasefire. The Armed Forces responded to the shelling," the TCG said on its Telegram channel.

The Ukrainian delegation to the TCG said the purpose of the shelling is to provoke the Ukrainian side.

"The task of the enemy is to provoke us to an inadequate response, and then at its highest level to declare […] aggressive actions of Ukraine ‘and create tension, ideally, to disrupt the relevant negotiations between the President of Ukraine and the President of the United States on further ways to resolve the conflict, in including, on the topic of the U.S. participation in such a settlement," the TCG said.

Through the TCG and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, notes were sent to the OSCE.

It is noted that the convocation of an extraordinary meeting of the Security Subgroup is not planned, since the Ukrainian side expects a refusal from the Russian side, as in the previous two cases of death and injury of Ukrainian servicemen.

"We want to warn the citizens of Ukraine that against the background and during the visit of President Zelensky to the United States, combat activity on the part of the enemy may increase, and people need to be situationally and morally prepared for this," the delegation said.