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Ukrainian soldier killed in clashes in troubled east

Sunday, 22 May 2016 12:31 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 22 May 2016 12:31 PM ]

A Ukrainian serviceman holds binoculars in a trench in a position near Popasna, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, August 18, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

The Ukrainian military has announced the death of one of its soldiers in new clashes between government troops and pro-Russia forces in the country’s troubled east.

“Over the past 24 hours, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and another injured as a result of hostilities,” Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said on Sunday.

According to Motuzyanyk, the incident occurred when Ukrainian soldiers came under mortar fire near the village of Avdiyivka located outside the Donetsk region.

He added that pro-Russia forces had become more active along the frontline of the conflict in volatile eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for pro-Russians also accused Ukrainian government troops of firing 193 times along the frontline over the past 24 hours.

Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine after people in the country’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for unification with Russia in March 2014. The West brands the development as Moscow’s annexation of the territory. The US and its allies in Europe also accuse Moscow of having a major hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, a charge that Moscow denies.

Pro-Russia forces withdraw their tanks from positions near the town of Novoazovsk in the Donetsk region, October 21, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations later in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there.

The crisis has left over 9,300 people dead and over 21,000 others injured, according to the United Nations.

In September 2014, the government in Kiev and the pro-Russians signed a ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in a bid to halt the clashes in Ukraine’s eastern regions. They agreed on 12 points, including pulling back heavy weapons, releasing prisoners, setting up a buffer zone on the Russia-Ukraine border, and allowing access to international observers.

The warring sides also inked another truce deal, dubbed Minsk II, in February 2015 under the supervision of Russia, Germany and France.

Since then, however, both parties have on numerous occasions accused each other of breaking the ceasefire.

Earlier this month, France and Germany held a round of talks with Ukraine and Russia in the German capital of Berlin as part of mediation efforts to hammer out a lasting peace deal, however, no consensus was reached over the issue.

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