Last month the Obama administration slightly tightened existing sanctions on Russian Federation, and the Pentagon announced that training of Ukrainian special forces would be extended to regular army units.
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said about “200 insurgents used tanks to storm” Novolaspa – a village half-way between the separatists’ de facto capital Donetsk and the Kiev-held port of Mariupol – in a pre-dawn raid that caught government soldiers off guard.
Russian Federation has always denied sending its military personnel to fight in Ukraine.
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 13 were wounded in the past day, according to the daily lunchtime update from the military.
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, condemned the attack as an “outrage” and said all efforts would be made to find those responsible and ensure the safety of the mission.
Ukraine returned heavy artillery to the front line of its more-than-yearlong conflict with pro-Russian rebels after reporting shelling at levels not seen in weeks.
Felgenhauer says the rare advance by Ukrainian troops should not be blown out of proportion. “So, control of a hilltop is not decisive”.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry called the clashes “a unsafe indication of a further escalation to come”. Kiev’s response likely will include heavy weapons banned under the ceasefire agreement with pro-Russian rebels.
Worldwide monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) this week reported an increase in ceasefire violations, and the European Union expressed alarm at attacks.
The jet, with 298 people on board, is widely suspected to have been shot down with a surface-to-air missile launched from a Russia-provided missile battery, a charge both Moscow and the rebels deny.
Felgenhauer says rebel-sparked skirmishes in Ukraine are not the result of trigger-happy fighters, but are due to the Kremlin’s strategic objective.
Russia has censured Ukraine’s recent decision to ban Russian books which Kiev alleges to be inflammatory and inspire support for those seeking a revolution against the Kiev government.
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Mariupol sits along a key route linking parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by the rebels and Crimea, which was annexed by Russian Federation in March 2014.
