Ukraine’s security officials say at least four soldiers have been killed in fresh exchanges of fire with pro-Russia forces in the country’s eastern regions in the past 24 hours.
The officials in Kiev said on Saturday that ten soldiers also sustained gunshot wounds during the clashes.
Meanwhile, one civilian, a 60-year-old man, lost his life in Ukraine’s restive eastern region of Lugansk on Friday.
Ukraine accused Russia on Friday of shelling its territory despite a ceasefire agreement signed between the Ukrainian government and pro-Moscow forces in Belarus, Minsk, on September 5.
“Over the past day, for the first time since the signing of the Minsk agreement, the shooting of Ukrainian territory restarted from the side of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence the pro-Moscow protests in mid-April.
According to the latest figures by the United Nations, more than 4,300 people have been killed in the fighting. In addition, nearly a million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of having a hand in the chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine. However, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied the allegation as baseless.
Why don’t the UkrainIans stop invading Novo Russyia? no wonder their soldiers are dying. Do you really think the Novo Russyians are going to let the Ukrainians have their way in their new nation?