Pro Russian militia forces have claimed victory at Saur-Moguila, which is considered an important area due to its topography, according to the pro Russian militia news website Voice of Sevastopol.
Located close to the Lugansk-Donetsk border, the occupier of the region can observe troops movements for several kilometers. Until Thursday Ukrainian forces controlled the region, but the militias now claim to have taken the objective.
Saur-Moguila is but one of several locations in the area between Lugansk and Donetsk where fighting between Ukrainian troops and militias has been its most intense. Several areas have been the focal point including Ilovaisk, to the west and near Krasnii Luch. Both of those localities, according to pro Russian militias have already been counted as victories.
In and around Lugansk, pro Russian militia now admit that their control of the region is less than total.
A former prime minister of Donbass, Paul Gubarev said Thursday that the ranks of the pro Russian militia have grown by four fold, and that the average age of volunteers is dropping. Currently the average age is around 40.
The massive increase in the number of recruits explains in part an earlier announcement about how pro Russian militia would begin brigading their forces into large formations, complete with fire support means such as artillery.
Concerning the situation and the new militia front on the Sea of Avov near Novoazovsk, it seems clear now that Russian regular forces did stumble into Ukraine, were fired on, returned fire and were captured. The latest news from western media, and from the United State State department is that Russian self propelled artillery have been spotted by satellite deployed and presumably firing while on Ukrainian soil.
Commenters at Colonel Cassaad blog think the artillery is deployed with some of the vehicles on Ukrainian soil, some on Russian.
The Ukrainian ATO Press Center said that Russian troops have been caught deep inside of Ukraina, helping pro Russian militiamilitia. So far, however, only one soldier, a 19 year old, has been detained. The prisoner admitted being part of the Russian Army in the 9th brigade, which is probably an air assault unit.
The situation around Mariupol, which militia say will fall to them in weeks, is that Ukrainian forces have been deployed to the area, but those forces are considered to be in poor morale. If true, this probably means Mariupol was a hub for resting and refitting Ukrainian military burned out in the fighting in the east.
Colonel Cassad said Thursday that as many as 3,000 Ukrainian effectives are in and around Mariupol, which amounts to a reinforced brigade.
The ATO Press Center said a Ukrainian naval vessel shot down a Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) near Mariupol.
Chris Covert writes news for Rantburg.com