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Eight Ukrainian Soldiers Wounded In East


Ukraine's military has said that eight of its soldiers were wounded in fighting against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country during the previous 24 hours.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on April 13 that all eight were injured in fighting in the Donetsk region, where 53 "hostile attacks" were registered since April 12.

Lysenko said there had been 29 shelling incidents around Mariupol, the Ukrainian-government-held strategic city on the shores of the Azov Sea.

No injuries were reporting in those shellings.

The news comes amid rising concerns about cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 since April 2014.

On April 11, the French Foreign Ministry said it was "not acceptable" that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were being targeted close to the contact line.

"The situation can only be stabilized by the full application of the Minsk agreement," it said, referring to the peace deal backed by Kyiv, its Western allies, and Moscow.

OSCE monitors have been tasked with monitoring the cease-fire, a key element of the Minsk agreement.

A spokesperson for EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini on April 10 condemned the recent incidents targeting OSCE observers as "unacceptable," calling on all sides to "refrain from such actions."

Based on reporting by Interfax

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