More deaths as Ukraine marks a year of conflict
6,000 people have died in conflict now frozen, with the ceasefire holding
Six Ukrainian troops were killed by landmines in the separatist-held east of Ukraine yesterday, breaking a lull of several days in a conflict that began a year ago today and has so far killed 6,000 people.
After weeks in which a shaky ceasefire deal appeared to be largely holding despite isolated clashes, the fatalities brought to nine the number of soldiers reported dead within just 48 hours.
Four of the soldiers died when their vehicle came under missile fire while crossing a bridge near the government-held village of Schastya, not far from the separatist bastion of Lugansk in the northeast.
On April 6, 2014, pro-Russian activists stormed the offices of the Donetsk regional administration and the Lugansk office of the secret service in eastern Ukraine, sparking a year-long insurgency against the Kiev government in which 6,000 people have died.
Their ire was directed at the pro-Westerners who took the helm in Kiev after massive street protests ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February last year.
The rebels claimed Russian-speakers in east Ukraine were under threat from the "fascist junta" in Kiev and were hostile to plans to strengthen ties with the European Union and Nato.
Rebel leaders, often nostalgic for the old days of the former USSR, quickly proclaimed the creation of the "Popular Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk".