"We have very serious losses, the information on which will be announced later. The militants’ way of shelling is very similar to that of a professional Russian army," he said.

According to Chepurniy, from 16:00 on August 26 to 06:30 on August 27, there were 20 militant attacks in the "M" sector.

In particular, until 16:00 Kyiv time, the Russian proxies observed the ceasefire, but after that they were firing without breaks. Until midnight, there were 13 attacks in the sector – the militants used 152mm and 122mm artillery systems seven times, 82mm and 120mm mortars five times and Grad multiple rocket launchers once to shell ATO forces near the village of Novohnativka.

In addition, the Russian-backed mercenaries fired four times on the Ukrainian military in the village of Starohnativka, twice in the village of Chermalyk and once in the villages of Novohryhorivka, Prokhorivka, Bohdanivka, Lebedynske, Orlovske and Novoselivka Druha.

Chepurniy also said that the militants had acted by means of deceit – in order to stop Ukrainians from firing back, they would ask for a ceasefire every time after each of their seven attacks.

"Seven attacks occurred in the "M" sector from midnight on August 27. The militants fired four times on Bohdanivka, twice on Starohnativka and once on Chermalyk. The most powerful shelling occurred in Bohdanivka, where from 04:30 to 05:00 the militants were simultaneously firing 152mm self-propelled guns and 81mm mortars," the press officer said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 90 times overnight, using banned artillery systems 14 times, mortars 31 times, tank shells five times and multiple rocket launchers once.