Ukrainian government forces have been fired on 112 times by separatists in the past 24 hours, despite a ceasefire agreement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Monday.
"We and the Ukrainian military forces are fully observing the ceasefire regime, but unfortunately in the past 24 hours there have been 112 attacks from the terrorists from Donetsk and Luhansk," Klimkin said through an interpreter on a visit to the Bulgarian capital.
"These are artillery attacks, mortar attacks and attacks with Grad (rocket systems)," Klimkin said. The Moscow-backed separatists reject Kiev's designation of them as terrorists.
A Kiev military spokesman said earlier that separatists are keeping up attacks on the strategic railway junction of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, and witnesses reported heavy shelling in the area.
"The illegal armed groups are not supporting the ceasefire," military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh told reporters, adding that the Russian-backed rebels were using Grad rockets and tanks to attack government forces holding the town.
"The number of attacks on Debaltseve has even increased in comparison to previous days and they are using all types of weapons," he said. "The terrorists have been given the order to take Debaltseve at all cost."
A Reuters correspondent at Vuhlehirsk, about 10 km (some six miles) to the west of Debaltseve, reported heavy shelling from the direction of the town, with blasts around every 10 seconds.
Underscoring the fragility of the ceasefire, which was negotiated by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France last week and which came into force at midnight on Sunday, the Kiev military said government positions had been fired on 112 times by rebels in the past 24 hours.
Government forces had fired only when coming under attack, Stelmakh said.
A Kiev military source also said on Monday that four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in attacks by separatists since a ceasefire came into force at midnight on Saturday.
A further 21 Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded, the source told Reuters.
EU SANCTIONS LIST
The European Union published a new list of Ukrainians and Russians targeted with sanctions for undermining Ukraine's independence on Monday, including Russian singer Iosif Kobzon and two Russian deputy defense ministers.
The EU's latest list of 19 people and nine organizations hit with asset freezes and travel bans was dominated by Ukrainian separatists with a handful of Russians.
The bloc went ahead with publishing the list despite a ceasefire taking effect over the weekend in eastern Ukraine.
The most eye-catching name on the list was that of Kobzon, a singer sometimes dubbed Russia's equivalent of Frank Sinatra.
Kobzon, 77, also a member of the state Duma or parliament, was listed because he "visited the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and during his visit made statements supporting separatists," according to the EU's Official Journal.
Also named were Russian First Deputy Defense Minister Arkady Bakhin, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov and Andrei Kartapolov, deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces.
The list included armed Ukrainian separatist groups such as the Cossack National Guard, the Sparta Battalion and the Death Battalion and leaders of a number of separatist groups.
REUTERS
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