Clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian forces have intensified, with heavy gunfire and explosions shaking the area around Donetsk International Airport.
Fighting battered the site of the airport throughout Saturday, with local sources speaking of some of the worst shelling in the nine months of conflict.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a briefing that three Kiev soldiers have been killed and 18 others injured over the past day.
Lysenko added that the latest causalities bring the military’s death toll to at least nine since January 15.
The spokesman also said Kiev’s military command “constantly send reinforcements” to the warn-torn area.
Donetsk Airport remains of symbolic and strategic importance to Ukraine despite claims by pro-Russians that they had taken control of the ruined site.
This is while the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic a day earlier accused Ukrainian government troops of using phosphorous weapons in an attack on the restive city’s airport.
According to the ministry, one of its soldiers had suffered phosphorous vapor intoxication and sought medical assistance.
The attacks come in violation of a shaky ceasefire agreement reached in September last year in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, following mediation by Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence protests there in mid-April 2014.
According to the latest figures released by the United Nations, more than 4,800 people have been killed in the fighting.
Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of having a hand in the chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine. Moscow categorically denies the allegation.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/3235
online news tv
