A Ukrainian soldier cuts fire-fighting timber during training in the eastern Donbas region on the 10th. Donetsk = Associated Press
A Ukrainian soldier has been killed in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region, the Ukrainian military said.
According to Reuters news agency on the 19th (local time), the Joint Forces Command in Eastern Ukraine said that a Ukrainian Army soldier died with fatal fragmentation wounds on the same day.
Earlier this morning, the Ukrainian military said in a social networking service (SNS) that pro-Russian separatist rebels had already recorded 19 violations of the armistice since this morning. This is a significant increase from the 66 truce violations recorded by separatists in the preceding 24 hours.
Ukrainian military authorities have accused the separatists of using heavy artillery, banned by the Minsk Pact, to open fire on more than 20 settlements. The Minsk Agreement is an armistice agreement signed by Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France to end the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014.
Previously, local media reported that the number of attacks by government forces and rebels on the eastern border of Ukraine has increased significantly. The European Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) special monitoring group, which monitors the ceasefire in the Donbas region, also said that military activity along the front line had surged from the 16th to the 17th. According to the Special Surveillance Team, a total of 870 ceasefire violations were identified in Lugansk and Donetsk regions during one day on the 17th.
Kim Cheong-hwan reporter chk@hankookilbo.com
