The Ukrainian military has
announced the death of two of its soldiers in new clashes between
government troops and pro-Russia forces in the country’s troubled east.
In
a statement released on Monday, Ukrainian forces said the fatalities
were the country's first losses after the latest ceasefire came into
effect on April 1, adding that two other soldiers sustained injuries
after their positions was attacked with heavy weaponry.
The
Saturday truce, brokered by international monitors, was the latest in a
string of similar agreements aimed at halting three years of conflict in
Ukraine’s volatile eastern regions.
Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko ordered the implementation of the ceasefire last week, but he
said he was "not very optimistic" that pro-Russia forces would abide by
it.
Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine after people in the Black
Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for reunification 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 Russia of having a
major hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, an allegation denied by
Moscow.
Pro-Russia
forces sit on an armored personnel carrier in the city of Debaltseve in
Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, on February 20, 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 in April 2014 to crush pro-Moscow protests there.
The crisis has left over 10,000 people dead, according to the United Nations.
In
September 2014, the government in Kiev and the pro-Russian forces
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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