The Ukrainian military said two soldiers were killed and four injured in
shootings by pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine on Saturday
(19/2/2022).
The flare-up of violence at the end of last week has further fueled fears
that it could trigger Russian military action.
The Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page it had recorded 70
ceasefire violations by separatists since the start of the day compared to
66 over the previous 24 hours.
According to the Ukrainian military, separatists fired on more than 30
settlements along the front line using heavy artillery, which has been
banned by the agreement aimed at cooling the long-running conflict.
A group of lawmakers and foreign media visiting the conflict zone came under
fire and had to be evacuated to a shelter, spokesman for President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy's party said in a separate statement on Saturday.
Separatist leaders accused Ukraine on the social media site Telegram of
shelling separatist-held areas and said they must respond immediately.
Incidents of shooting across the line separating government troops and
separatists have sharply increased this week in what the Ukrainian
government has called a provocation.
They vehemently denied suggestions from Russia that Kyiv could launch an
attack in eastern Ukraine.