KYIV: Ukraine on Sunday suspended operations at one of the seven checkpoints to territory in the eastern Donbass region controlled by Russia-backed separatists, due to heavy shelling, the Ukrainian military said.
Incidents of shelling across the line dividing government forces and separatists increased sharply last week, in what the Ukrainian government called a provocation. Kyiv’s Western allies say Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine and are concerned that the escalation might be used as a pretext.
Russia denies any plans to attack its neighbour, while Ukraine strongly denied suggestions by Moscow that Kyiv could launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Separatists on Saturday fired three times on the Schastya checkpoint using mortars and heavy anti-tank grenade launchers, as ceasefire violations by separatists along the frontline increased to 136 from 66 on Friday, the military said on its Facebook page.
Two Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed and four wounded on Saturday.
Considering “the escalation of the situation… and the inability to guarantee the safety of the civilian population” using the checkpoint, the command was suspending its use from 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday “for the period of the threat,” the military said.
Separatist officials accused Ukraine on social media site Telegram of shelling separatist-controlled areas and said they had to respond accordingly.
Incidents of shelling across the line dividing government forces and separatists increased sharply last week, in what the Ukrainian government called a provocation. Kyiv’s Western allies say Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine and are concerned that the escalation might be used as a pretext.
Russia denies any plans to attack its neighbour, while Ukraine strongly denied suggestions by Moscow that Kyiv could launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Separatists on Saturday fired three times on the Schastya checkpoint using mortars and heavy anti-tank grenade launchers, as ceasefire violations by separatists along the frontline increased to 136 from 66 on Friday, the military said on its Facebook page.
Two Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed and four wounded on Saturday.
Considering “the escalation of the situation… and the inability to guarantee the safety of the civilian population” using the checkpoint, the command was suspending its use from 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday “for the period of the threat,” the military said.
Separatist officials accused Ukraine on social media site Telegram of shelling separatist-controlled areas and said they had to respond accordingly.
For all the latest world News Click Here
Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
