- Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/EAST Situation remains tense along frontline in eastern Ukraine
- Date: 8th June 2015
- Summary: NOVOTOSHKIVSKE, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE (JUNE 8, 2015) (REUTERS) DAMAGED STAIRCASES COVERED WITH BRICKS AND DESTROYED WALLS DAMAGED SCALES UKRAINIAN SOLDIER AND LOCAL RESIDENTS WALKING OUT OF VILLAGE COUNCIL BUILDING SHOP NEXT TO DESTROYED BUILDING LOCAL RESIDENTS SITTING AT SITTING AREA SOLDIERS WALKING WITH GUNS THROUGH VILLAGE SOLDIER WALKING PAST BUS STOP WITH SIGN REA
- Embargoed: 23rd June 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA54DL3HWHUO8UGDE2R4FS1K6IG
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A village of Novotoshkivske in Ukraine's Luhansk region controlled by government forces bears scars of recent shelling. Ukraine's defence ministry last week said the village came under mortar attack by Russian-backed separatists, who control major areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Rebels deny attacks on the village and blame Ukrainian military for the shellings.
Ukrainian soldiers were seen patrolling the streets of the village with a pre-conflict population of over 2,300 people.
"My guys will hold this place till the last moment. They will die, but they will hold their positions. No one is going to run anywhere and has never planned to. Everyone understands for a long time now that Donbass is Ukraine, it is our motherland," said Serhiy Krivoshapko from Luhansk-1 Battalion.
The situation remains tense next to the frontline which separates rebel-held territories from the lands under Ukraine's control despite a ceasefire brokered in Minsk in February.
"We are on duty. The unit is kept in constant combat readiness, so we are looking around with four and not two eyes," soldier Myron said.
Earlier this week Ukraine said the separatists had launched an assault on government-held town of Maryinka, a town 15 km (9 miles) west of Donetsk which had a pre-conflict population of about 9,900.
But the separatists denied this, saying 15 people had been killed when government troops fired artillery into rebel-held territory nearby.
The fighting in Maryinka went far beyond the regular low-level skirmishing that has occasionally flared since the shaky peace deal was reached.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine last week said the security situation in eastern Ukraine had deteriorated in recent days with both sides of the conflict putting civilians at risk.
In Moscow, the Kremlin immediately took the side of the separatists, accusing the Ukrainian armed forces of carrying out provocative actions.
Kiev and its NATO allies accuse Russia of sending weapons and troops to fight on behalf of separatists who control part of two provinces in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow, which seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula last year, denies its troops are participating. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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