The fighting flared earlier this week, killing at least two Ukrainian soldiers and several civilians. Violence has increased significantly in the past few days, with the Ukrainian government forces and separatists trading shellfire.
Advertisement
On Saturday, Ukraine’s military reported coming underneath the heaviest degree of artillery and rocket hearth because the two sides signed a February truce deal that has been repeatedly damaged since. Bodies continue to pile up, and the Ukrainian government claims that separatists have violated the ceasefire no less than 140 times during the past six months.
The United Nations appraises that the contention has slaughtered more than 6,800 individuals from April 2014 and has driven no less than 1.4 million from their homes. The flare-up has fueled concerns that the shaky February ceasefire could collapse altogether.
Ukrainian troops have recently been engaged in fighting with pro-Russians over the control of a strategic highway linking the Kiev-held southeastern port of Mariupol with Donetsk, which is controlled by pro-Russians.
A Ukrainian serviceman examine a destroyed house after shelling between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian seperatists in the town of Zolote on Sunday.
“We’re alarmed by the developments in recent days, which very strongly remind us of preparations for another round of combat operations”, he said.
In a newspaper interview, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the situation was explosive and he urged both parties in the conflict to come together quickly to prevent a spiral in violence.
“It is known that 50,000 troops of the Russian armed forces have been deployed along the state border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation“, he said.
“Russia and the separatists are launching these attacks, just as they escalated the conflict last August”, he said.
Putin criticized his Ukrainian counterpart for appointing foreign specialists and advisers to key government posts, such as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who became governor of Ukraine’s southern Odessa region in May.
Advertisement
Moscow, for its part says Kiev has failed to deliver on multiple provisions of the Minsk peace plan and wants Kiev to hold direct talks with representatives of the self-proclaimed rebel “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, which it backs.
