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three soldiers killed in east Ukraine clashes

Tuesday, 16 February 2016 5:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 16 February 2016 7:22 PM ]

People are gathering remains of soldier at Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters Photo)

Three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and seven others wounded in the past 24 hours in clashes with pro-Russia forces in the volatile eastern region.

Ukraine's presidential administration spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk announced the deaths on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported.

He accused the pro-Russia forces of violating the ceasefire 79 times, saying they have often fired heavy weapons that were supposed to have been withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement reached in the Belorussian capital city of Minsk a year ago.

Meanwhile, representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, members of the so-called Contact Group working to implement the ceasefire agreement, dubbed Minsk II, are set to meet on Wednesday in Belarus.

The internationally-intervened peace deal which was signed in February 2015 between Kiev and representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk, has been broken on an almost daily basis.

A picture taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential Press service shows French President Francois Hollande (L), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) walk towards the area for a family photo, at the presidential residence in Minsk, on February 11, 2015, during a meeting aimed at halting the Ukraine conflict (AFP Photo)

Over 9,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict since Kiev launched military operations in the east in April 2014 to crush pro-Russia protests.

Kiev and its allies, namely the United States and the European Union, have accused Russia of arming and supporting pro-Russia forces fighting in eastern Ukraine for greater autonomy.

Russia has rejected the accusations as "groundless.”

Russia says any kind of aid and support given to the Russian-speaking fighters in eastern Ukraine is of a humanitarian nature.

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