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New clashes kill army soldier in east Ukraine: Military

Monday, 16 May 2016 3:41 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 May 2016 3:41 PM ]

This photo taken on December 22, 2015 shows a Ukrainian soldier on the outskirts of a village in the Donetsk region. (AFP photo)

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.

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military, said on Monday that the soldier was killed in an attack on the government-held village of Opytne some five kilometers (three miles) northwest of the volatile city of Donetsk.

He said the incident occurred "over the past 24 hours" without providing further details.

The military spokesman reported about another Ukrainian soldier who had been injured in a separate incident, adding that the situation in the war-torn east region "had deteriorated sharply."

Lysenko also accused pro-Russia forces of using mortars which like other types of heavy weaponry are prohibited under peace deals aimed at ending the 25-month conflict.

The casualties came after peace talks failed in the German capital of Berlin last Wednesday when France and Germany held a round of talks with Ukraine and Russia as part of mediation efforts to try to hammer out a lasting peace deal.

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 describes 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-Russian forces withdraw their tanks from positions near the town of Novoazovsk in Donetsk region on October 21, 2015. (AFP photo)

Ukraine’s eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow 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.

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