In exchanges marking a sharp escalation in the three-month conflict, jets struck at the "epicenter" of the battle against the rebels close to the border with Russia, a military spokesman said.
The planes targeted positions from where separatists using high-powered Grad missiles bombarded an army motorized brigade on Friday, killing 23 servicemen.
Warplanes also struck at targets near Donetsk, the east's main town where rebels have dug in, destroying a powerful fighter base near Dzerzhinsk, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the "anti-terrorist operation" said.
"According to preliminary assessment, Ukrainian pilots ... killed about 500 (rebel) fighters and damaged two armored transporters," Lysenko told journalists.
In an earlier air attack on a base near Perevalsk, north of Donetsk, two tanks, 10 armored vehicles and "about 500" rebel fighters were destroyed, he said.
Rebel representatives, quoted by Russian news agencies, denied they had suffered big losses and said the Ukrainians were using outdated intelligence about where separatist forces were deployed.
"There were no volunteers (rebels) where the Ukrainian aviation was active yesterday," said a spokeswoman for the Luhansk-based separatists, referring to the Peravalsk attack.
Earlier, the border guard service said jet fighters were scrambled to strike at the pro-Russian separatists after they resumed missile attacks on government forces deployed near the frontier with Russia, south-east of the city of Luhansk.
In the military action, which began on Friday evening and continued well into Saturday, five Ukrainian servicemen were killed, Lysenko said. There had been 16 overflights by Ukrainian fighter jets in all, he said.....................http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/12/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKBN0FH09720140712?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews12/7/14
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Related:
Ukraine/Otan: le chef de la diplomatie de Kiev s'entretient avec Rasmussen
At least 30 Ukrainian servicemen killed in Donetsk region on Friday.(in "rocket strike")
Crimea’s prosecutor says Kiev kills its people instead of protecting
Ukraine to reduce funding of scientific researches in favor of weapons production (after a meeting with the military in the city of Slavyansk)
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Ukraine launches fresh air raids on rebels....Government says jets scrambled after separatists in east fired missiles at its forces....
ReplyDeleteUkraine's military scrambled jets to strike at rebel positions early on Saturday, after separatists resumed missile attacks on government forces near the frontier with Russia, the border guard service said.
Ukrainian forces also used artillery to respond to rebel fire early on Saturday, the military said, in several areas of eastern Ukraine following a missile strike by separatists on Friday that killed at least 23 government servicemen.
Ukrain's president, Petro Poroshenko, had promised to "find and destroy" the pro-Russian rebels responsible for the missile attack at Zelenopillya, which also wounded nearly 100.
At least two more Ukrainian soldiers were killed and about 20 injured on Saturday in a mortar bomb and missile bombardment by the rebels of army checkpoints at Dyakove and Nyzhnoderevechka near Luhansk, the government said.
Rebel fighters meanwhile said that Ukrainian jets had carried out raids on Saturday in the eastern town of Horlivka.
"There were a series of powerful explosions. Details are being clarified," a separatist representative, Konstantin Knyrik, was quoted as saying by Russia's interfax news agency.
The EU meanwhile said it was extending sanctions to cover 11 leaders of the pro-Moscow rebellion in eastern Ukraine........................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/07/ukraine-launches-fresh-air-raids-rebels-201471292552794755.html