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Ukrainian Army. PHOTO/Reuters
“A Joint Forces soldier was seriously injured,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement to the AFP news agency, as quoted by i24News. The report added that the separatists had carried out three attacks within 24 hours, using grenade launchers and small arms.
Read: Biden Threatens Putin: Going Into Ukraine Will Be Expensive!
The Ukrainian military did not provide further details on how the soldier was killed. Tensions with Moscow have risen in recent months, with Russia deploying troops near the Ukrainian border.
Previously, the United States (US) has again warned Russia about any attack in the country. US President Joe Biden has issued a second warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden himself is scheduled to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday (2/1/2022). In his New Year’s Eve address, Zelensky said ending the war in the east remained his “main goal.”
Read: Biden-Putin Hold Talks As Ukraine Crisis Tensions Rise
On December 22, international monitors said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to restore the ceasefire. However, the following day Kiev and the separatists accused each other of new abuses.
The soldier’s death on Saturday was the first since a ceasefire was agreed. All previous ceasefires – including the previous one agreed in July 2020 – were shattered.
Kiev has been battling a pro-Moscow insurgency in two breakaway regions bordering Russia since 2014, when the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has so far killed more than 13,000 people.
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