Breaking News, February 8, 2018

During the past day the AFU shelled the position of the People’s Militia of the LPR six times. The areas of settlements Kalinovo, Nizhne Lozovoe, Krasny Liman and Vergulovka were shelled by means of artillery, mortars, armored vehicles and small arms.

During the past day the AFU violated the ceasefire 15 times in the DPR, firing 376 units of various ammunition in the front-line territories of the Republic. During the shelling mortars, weapons of the BMP, various types of grenade launchers and large-caliber small arms were used. The areas of 12 settlements of the Republic got under the fire of the AFU units; the fire was conducted in the suburbs of Donetsk, Dokuchaevsk, Yasinovaty, as well as the outskirts of Gorlovka and the southern villages of the Dnieper. The highest intensity of attacks was recorded in the Donetsk direction.

CNN, referring to the representative of the US-led coalition, reports that as a result of the «retaliatory» strike of the coalition, more than 100 fighters of the pro-government forces of Syria were killed. «We estimate the losses of the pro-government forces of Syria, which entered into confrontation with the» Syrian Democratic Forces «and the coalition, as 100 or more people, these measures were taken in self-defense,» the coalition spokesman said. He added that air and artillery strikes against the pro-government forces in Syria ended after they returned to their side of the line of demarcation.

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Korolev said that during the operation in Syria, more than 10 missile strikes were delivered at the terrorists’ positions with a total of more than 100 missiles launched. As a result, more than 80 objects of illegal armed formations were destroyed. In addition, the ship aviation of «Admiral Kuznetsov» carried out more than 400 sorties, with more than 1.3 thousand targets destroyed.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow was disappointed with the latest US statements on the preparation of a new package of tough and aggressive sanctions against North Korea. According to him, the American side shows lack of interest in «the continuation of the establishing an exchange of views between the North and South on the Korean peninsula».

The Sports Arbitration Court stated that the decision on the appeals of 47 Russian athletes and coaches on participation in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang will be announced on February 9 at 5:00 Moscow time. This is stated in a press release on the official website of the court.