Clashes kill six Ukraine soldiers in spike of violence

Clashes with Russian-backed rebels killed six Ukrainian soldiers on Thursday, officials said, in the bloodiest surge in fighting along the volatile frontline in recent months.


The violence flared several days after a top rebel leader announced a plan to form a new "state" that Kiev warned could put a long-stalled peace plan further in jeopardy.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said rebel shelling killed six servicemen and wounded two more around the insurgents' de-facto capital Donetsk.

Three more soldiers were killed and three injured when their vehicle drove on a mine northwest of the second biggest rebel city Lugansk, Lysenko announced.

Across the other side of the front a separatist news agency accused Kiev of wounding three civilians in a bombardment by heavy weaponry.
 aljazeera.com
21/7/17