Ukraine Says Three Soldiers Killed In East
By RFE/RL
Ukraine's military said on December 18 that three of its soldiers were killed amid multiple cease-fire violations by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in the last 24 hours.
According to the Defense Ministry's statement, the separatists violated the cease-fire 14 times using mortars and heavy artillery.
Separatists claimed on December 18 that Ukraine's armed forces violated the cease-fire 17 times using assault rifles, grenade launchers, mortars, and artillery.
Fighting between Kyiv's forces and the Russia-backed separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.
Several cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords -- September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed to resolve the conflict -- have failed to hold.
The latest cease-fire was agreed on August 22 in a phone call between the leaders of Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine.
With reporting by Interfax
This ends our live blogging for December 17. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
WATCH: Police and protesters skirmished in central Kyiv on December 17 as several thousand people took to the streets of the Ukrainian capital to call for the impeachment of President Petro Poroshenko and the resignation of the country’s top prosecutor. Many protesters were supporters of opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who is now an opposition leader in Ukraine. Demonstrators later attempted to enter a concert hall near Independence Square after Saakashvili told them he plans to set up his headquarters there, but police and National Guard forces moved to prevent them from going inside. Saakashvili distanced himself from the incident. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
