Terrorists are trying to expand territory under their control and adjust demarcation line to their advantage - ATO speaker

The situation in the ATO area remains tense.

Anti-terrorist operation speaker Colonel Andrii Lysenko said at today's briefing, Censor.NET reports.

"The terrorists are trying to expand territory under their control and adjust demarcation line to their advantage. There is active enemy troops' regrouping and buildup registered in the vicinity of the Donetsk airport and in the Luhansk region," he said.

Read also: Enemy losses on January 17 and 18 are estimated at 150 killed, a large number of military equipment was also destroyed - Butusov

The crossing of the checkpoint near Mariupol on the direction of Novoazovsk - Krasnoarmiisk - Talakivka was suspended because it was attacked by the terrorists' artillery.

"Two battalion task groups of the Russian Federation Armed Forces entered Ukraine yesterday morning through the section of the border, which is not yet controlled by the Ukrainian troops, and headed towards Luhansk. Each group consisted of about 400 servicemen," he said.

"There were no reports on enemy's crossing of the border today," Lysenko said.

According to the National Security and Defense Council situation report from Jan. 20, two battalion task groups of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were recorded crossing the Ukrainian-Russian border.