TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) spokesman Andriy Lysenko reported at a briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center on Thursday, January 22, 2015, that terrorists were trying to expand the territory they control and take up positions favorable by means of shelling and direct attacks at the positions of the ATO.

“The Russian Federation continues playing a crucial role in the above processes by supplying weapons, ammunition and military equipment to the territory temporal controlled by the militants,” Mr. Lysenko said in a press release received by Tempo on Friday, 23 January 2015.

Mr. Lysenko reported that the Ukrainian authorities had to withdraw their forces from the new terminal of the Donetsk airport since it was completely destroyed and was not suitable for defense. In the course of fighting, he added, 16 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded and taken captive.

Ukrainian intelligence has noted the move of convoys of Russian military vehicles along the territory of the Rostov region of the Russian Federation, which is next to the Russian-Ukrainian border.

“A major part of the vehicles do not bear insignia, side markings and number plates. At the same time, some military equipment units had number plates of the Western, Eastern, Central and Southern military districts of the Russian Federation,” explained the ATO spokesman.

Terrorists are systematically ruining Donbas infrastructure and killing its local residents. On Wednesday, January 21, 2015, the militants of the “LPR” group struck with mortars the 441th kilometer and the gas distribution station of the gas pipeline “Northern Caucasus-Center”.

UACRISIS.ORG | FERY ANDRIANSYAH