Ukrainian soldier killed in fighting with pro-Russian separatists
ERBIL, KRG, Iraq (North Press) – Ukraine said on Saturday that one of its soldiers was killed in fighting with pro-Moscow separatists, as the US again warned Russia against any attacks on the country.
The Ukrainian army said in a statement that one of its soldiers was seriously wounded, accusing the pro-Russian separatists of conducting three attacks over the last 24 hours.
The soldier is considered the first to be killed since the signature of the ceasefire agreement in December between the two parties of conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people since 2014.
Kiev has been facing a pro-Russian rebellion in two regions near the border with Russia since 2014, after Kremlin annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
Ukraine accuses Russia of supporting the separatists militarily and financially in the conflict, to which Moscow denies.
The two parties of the conflict agreed on December 22, 2021 to re-activate the ceasefire agreement signed between them in July, 2020 in east Ukraine.
However, the next day Kiev and the separatists exchanged the accusations of committing new violations.
The already deteriorating relationships between Russia and Ukraine have hit the bottom currently.
For more than a month, the West has accused Russia of mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers near the Ukrainian border with the aim if a potential invasion of Kiev.
Moscow, however, denies any intention to invade Ukrainian, and it says that it is under provocations from Kiev and the NATO, which demands Russia not to extend in the former Soviet republics.
These demands will be touched on in the American-Russian negotiations which are scheduled to be held this month.
In a related context, US President Joe Biden is scheduled to have a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, tomorrow.
In his New Year address to the Ukrainians, Zelensky reiterated that ending the war in the East “is still his main goal”.