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 The conflict has reached stalemate in recent weeks with the truce,
brokered in the Belarussian capital of Minsk in mid-February, still
technically in force though casualties are reported almost daily.
"The enemy has significantly intensified firing on our positions
from weapons that according to the Minsk agreement are meant to have
been withdrawn," Kiev's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a
televised briefing, adding that the majority of attacks had taken
place around the airport of rebel-held Donetsk.
He said in the past 24 hours rebels had fired at government troops
18 times with weapons of between 120 mm and 122 mm caliber.
According to the Mink deal, weapons bigger than 100 mm caliber,
including large artillery, heavy mortar and powerful rocket systems,
are meant to have been withdrawn from the frontline.
 The conflict erupted a year ago when rebels opposed to a new
pro-Western leadership in Kiev and the ousting of a Moscow-backed
president occupied state buildings in two big cities of Ukraine's
Russian-speaking east, Donetsk and Luhansk.
More than 6,000 civilians, rebels and Ukrainian servicemen have been
killed since then in a crisis in which Kiev has accused its former
Soviet master of arming and supporting the rebels, a charge Moscow
denies
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On the rebel side, separatist forces accused government troops in
the town of Avdiivka of firing from tanks at rebel positions near
Donetsk airport about 7 km (4.4 miles) away, rebel news agency DAN
reported early on Friday.
Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said it was not
possible for government troops to fire tank rounds that distance.
"For that ... heavy artillery systems would be needed and we have
withdrawn them," he told Reuters by phone.
The Ukrainian military said none of its servicemen had been killed
in the past 24 hours, although two were wounded by a landmine.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Additional reporting by Pavel
Polityuk; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editung by Andrew Heavens)
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