Ukraine Says Rebels Boost Fighting in Troubled Eastern Areas
- Situation in east has `deteriorated' amid overnight skirmishes
- One soldier wounded near Donetsk, another in Luhansk region
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The situation in Ukraine’s eastern conflict-torn regions deteriorated overnight as rebels used weapons banned under the Minsk peace accord and increased the number of their attacks, the military said.
Pro-Russian separatists fired 69 times at government troops in 24 hours, an increase from 29 such instances a day earlier, the Ukrainian military press office said on Facebook on Friday. Eduard Basurin, a military spokesman for the self-proclaimed rebel Donetsk People’s Republic, said by phone they were reacting to attacks and used only rifles when fighting back in Staromykhailivka, on the outskirts of Donetsk.