Intense Fighting Reported in E. Ukraine
by VOA News July 02, 2014
Violence continued in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ended a 10-day unilateral cease-fire and resumed a military offensive against pro-Russian separatists.
A spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Lysenko, said at least five Ukrainian servicemen were killed and 21 wounded over the previous 24 hours, while 'hundreds' of rebel fighters died in the fighting.
Lysenko said government forces had retaken three settlements from rebel forces and hit 120 separatist targets, while the separatists carried out 19 attacks on military convoys, checkpoints and positions.
Lysenko also claimed that Russia was blocking separatist fighters from fleeing into Russia.
A Ukrainian military spokesman was quoted as saying that separatists in the Donetsk region hit a Ukrainian Su-24 fighter jet with a shoulder-launched missile, but that the aircraft managed to land with only one working engine.
Russia's Itar-Tass state news agency quoted a separatist source as saying government forces massively shelled the city of Kramatorsk starting Tuesday evening and into Wednesday.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Wednesday that she could not rule out further sanctions against Russia. The United States and its European allies accuse Russia of arming the separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Merkel said it was 'regrettable' that Kyiv's 10-day cease-fire had not ended the violence.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin directly blamed Poroshenko for the renewed fighting. He also said Russia would continue to 'vigorously' defend the rights of Russians abroad, using 'all available means' including "international humanitarian law' and 'the right of self-defense."
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are meeting in Berlin to discuss the crisis.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
