Since the start of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) on April 15, 2014, 1,252 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in combat and nearly 3,000 wounded, Petro Poroshenko announced yesterday, December 6 on Ukraine's Armed Forces Day or "Fatherland Defense Day."

According to Unian, Poroshenko said that despite these losses, his nation's fighters had managed to stop "the Russian army, the largest on the continent."

Poroshenko made a visit to Kharkiv yesterday,accompanied by Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and other officials from Ukraine's General Staff and the presidential administration.

He handed out awards for valor and also delivered some armor: 100 Bulat tanks, T-64s, T-72s, 4E armored transporters, 3E-1U BTRs, 2S-1 self-propelled artillery systems, KrAZ trucks, and Mi-8 and Mi-2 helicopters.

Yesterday, officials announced that no soldiers had been killed. But today, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in battle and 8 wounded, Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for the National Defense and Security Council announced.

Two Ukrainian policemen also suffered concussions in the bombing of the police station in Avdeyevka by Russian-backed separatists yesterday, Unian reported.

-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick