|
A notable
increase in military and civilian casualties in the past two
weeks has prompted the leaders of France and Germany, who helped
broker the six-month-old truce, to arrange new talks with
President Petro Poroshenko to discuss how to preserve the peace.
Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksander Motuzyanyk reported
renewed rebel shelling of government positions near the
separatist-held city of Donetsk and mortar fire in villages near
the strategic Kiev-controlled port city of Mariupol.
"In this area the enemy does not engage in direct fighting with
the Ukrainian army, but regularly fires chaotically from
howitzers and GRAD multiple rocket launchers," he said.
Separatist officials accused Ukrainian troops in turn of
shelling rebel territory, including residential areas.
On Wednesday, NATO warned Russia, which the West accuses of
supporting the separatists with equipment and fighters, that any
attempt by the rebels to take more of Ukraine's territory would
be unacceptable.
Poroshenko will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Francois Hollande in Berlin on Monday to discuss the
latest escalation in the conflict, which has killed over 6,500
since erupting in April 2014.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice;
Editing by Richard Balmforth and Clelia Oziel)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|
