Fresh fighting erupts in Ukraine, 3 soldiers killed

Kiev, May 22

Three Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 12 wounded in the latest clashes between government forces and Russian-backed separatists, further eroding a three-month-old ceasefire, Kiev's military said on Friday.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said government forces had come under attack from separatists using large-calibre guns and mortar in several parts of the east and southeast, including near the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk. "In the past 24 hours we have lost three Ukrainian heroes, and another 12 have been wounded," Lysenko told a briefing.

There was no word on casualties among the separatists, who Kiev, NATO and Western countries say are being provided with arms and men by Russia, something Moscow denies. A surge in violence is putting further pressure on a fragile ceasefire brokered by Russia, Germany and France in a peace deal last February in Minsk, Belarus. — Reuters