RFI
Ukraine: Zelensky goes to the front line after the death of two soldiers
After several months of relative calm, weapons are ringing again in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, where two soldiers were killed on Thursday February 11. President Volodymyr Zelensky has also visited the front line, accompanied by Western diplomats, to remind people that the conflict is not at all settled, and that it can degenerate again at any time. With our correspondent in Kiev, Stéphane Siohan In a camouflage-colored suit, and wrapped in a bulletproof vest, President Volodymyr Zelensky approached Thursday a few hundred meters from the contact line, with the ambassadors of France just behind him, from Germany, USA, Great Britain, Sweden and Canada.The Ukrainian head of state came to remind his soldiers of the importance of maintaining the ceasefire, even when the forces separatists are talking about arms, a sine qua non, according to him, to resolve the conflict through negotiation. Not responding to enemy fire, or at least, is one of the constants of Volodymyr Zelensky’s military strategy. This led to a ceasefire last August that lasted five months and brought a little rest to the inhabitants of Donbass. But this passive attitude irritates the ranks of the army, which since the start of the year, has been counting losses. On Thursday, two soldiers were killed within hours of a row, the first by a sniper bullet , the second, cut down by a heavy machine gun. These skirmishes bring the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action to eight since the start of the year. Which is already much more than during the first six months of the cease-fire.
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