Pro-Russian separatists kill soldier, civilian in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW

A Ukrainian soldier and a civilian were killed on Tuesday in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine in a shooting with pro-Russian separatists, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday.

Three soldiers were wounded in the shooting, one of them died in hospital, while the other two are under treatment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces noted in a statement.

It added that a civilian was also killed in the Novoselovka village as a result of separatists’ fire.

The separatists broke a cease-fire 16 times over the past 24 hours, the statement said.

On Nov. 21, 2013, demonstrations began in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, after then-President Viktor Yanukovych failed to sign the EU Association Agreement.

Yanukovych fled the country in February 2014 amid growing protests, while pro-Russia separatists in the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbas region in the east of the country had then declared their so-called independence.

More than 13,000 people have been killed in clashes between separatists and the Kyiv administration since 2014.