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Russia has sent more troops into Ukraine than at any time since the crisis began, deploying 9,000 soldiers inside its neighbour, according to the Ukrainian leader.
Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine, said Russia had also dispatched 500 tanks and other armoured vehicles over the border. A total of five Russian infantry battalions are now believed to be inside eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military says it went to the aid of soldiers besieged in Donetsk airport
Observers in eastern Ukraine have warned of a serious deterioration in security as fighting intensifies in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
This aerial view shot by a drone shows the outline of an airplane in the snow at the Sergey Prokofiev International Airport damaged by shelling during fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian troops recaptured almost all the territory of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine they had lost to separatists in recent weeks, even as thousands gathered in Kiev for a state-sponsored peace march yesterday.
The offensive brought fighting close to the industrial city of Donetsk itself, the centre of a pro-Russian rebellion, while shelling intensified in other parts of the region which are known as the “Donbass”.
Six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in attacks by separatists in the past 24 hours, the Kiev military said on Friday as fighting raged at the international airport in the big eastern city of Donetsk.
“Six of our servicemen have been killed as a result of combat activity and another 18 have been wounded in the past 24 hours,” military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists.
Illegal armed groups conducted 34 strikes using mortars, artillery weapons and Grad multiple-launch rocket systems against positions held by Ukrainian soldiers last night, the press center for the anti-terrorist operation has reported.
According to the report, the most intense shelling was observed near Donetsk.