Two pro-Russian rebels were killed and another injured in fresh clashes with government forces in the country’s war-torn east as simmering violence showed little sign of abating, separatist authorities said today.
The new casualties came the day after Ukraine scored a major diplomatic victory by securing the return of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko as part of a prisoner swap with the Kremlin.
Senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin said Ukrainian forces attacked rebel positions near the town of Avdiivka located some 10 kilometres (6 miles) north of the rebels’ de facto capital Donetsk.
“During the attack two soldiers of the Donetsk People’s Republic were killed and one injured”, he told reporters.