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 Government forces have recently gained the upper hand in the
three-month conflict against separatists in the Russian-speaking
eastern regions in which more than 200 government troops have been
killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebel fighters.
But though government forces pushed the rebels out of a stronghold
in Slaviansk at the weekend, the heavily armed separatists have dug
in in Donetsk, a city of 900,000 people, and remain active in and
around Luhansk on the Russian border.
The government's "anti-terrorist operation" said that one soldier
was killed late on Wednesday when rebels fired machine-guns at a
truck carrying soldiers at Muratova near Luhansk.
"The vehicle was ambushed. In the course of the fighting one
serviceman was killed and three were wounded," it said in a
statement.
Separately, two soldiers were killed and six wounded when their
armored vehicle was blown up by a landmine near Chervona Zorya, near
Donetsk, it said.
Buoyed by the success in Slaviansk, President Petro Poroshenko is
pressing forward with a military offensive against the rebels who
are appealing, apparently in vain, for help from Russia, though they
say they are recruiting new fighters from among the local
population.
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Poroshenko has ruled out air strikes and artillery bombardment
because of the large civilian population in Donetsk.
His military nonetheless say they have a plan to deliver a "nasty
surprise" to the rebels and "liberate" Donetsk and Luhansk. The
separatists are occupying administrative buildings in the two cities
and have dug into positions on the outskirts of Donetsk.
(Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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