03:20 March 17

Kiev: Russian bombs on Donetsk, at least one dead and 7 wounded

Russian forces shelled Kostiantynivka and Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast, killing one person and wounding seven others, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said, quoted by local media. The villages of Pivnichne and Pivdenne in Toretsk were hit: a 50-year-old woman was killed and a 40-year-old man injured. In Kostyantynivka, six civilians, including a Polish citizen, were injured. Fragments of Russian bullets damaged more than 30 homes, gas pipelines, cars and farm buildings. Russian sources say for their part that the Ukrainian armed forces carried out 34 bombings yesterday on the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, resulting in the injury of three civilians. Such attacks allegedly targeted Blagodatnoye, Vladimirovka, Gorlovka, Donetsk, Makeyevka, Nikolskoye, Panteleymonovka and Yasinovataya. Four homes and two civilian structures were damaged.

02:50 March 17

Tass: Russian troops advanced in the direction of Mariupol

Russian troops advanced in the direction of Mariupol with the fire support of the 1st Donetsk Corps, destroying three strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ivan Bigma, head of the press center of the "South" group, told the Russian news agency Tass. In addition, in the Avdiivka sector, a battery of 152-mm Msta-B howitzers of the 238th Artillery Brigade destroyed a manned firing position and a 152-mm Hyacinth-B cannon during a counter-battery battle.