1 Ukrainian serviceman killed, 6 wounded as tensions escalate

PanARMENIAN.Net - One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six were wounded in the past 24 hours, the Kiev military said on Monday, April 13, accusing rebels of using heavy weapons that were meant to have been withdrawn under a ceasefire deal, Reuters reported.

The escalation in violence will add pressure to talks between the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, who are due to meet in Berlin on Monday to discuss further implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement.

The truce, brokered in the Belarusian capital in mid-February, is still technically in force though both sides accuse each other of intensifying attacks in the past few days.

"The rebels have not stopped firing at Ukrainian positions ... Over the past day the enemy used weapons banned under the Minsk agreements," Ukraine military spokesman, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, said in a televised briefing.

He said the armed groups had fired at government troops 17 times with weapons of between 120 mm and 122 mm caliber, but did not specify where exactly. He also reported clashes between the opposing forces near government-held Avdiivka north of Donetsk.

“The situation around the airport of rebel-controlled Donetsk was the most tense,” Motuzyanyk said.

Under the Minsk deal, weapons bigger than 100 mm caliber, including large artillery, heavy mortar and powerful rocket systems, were meant to have been withdrawn from the front line.