KIEV, June 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pro-Russian separatists on Friday accused Ukrainian troops of gunning down five soldiers “in cold blood” while Kiev said one of its own soldiers died as a result of shelling.
The new casualties in war-torn eastern Ukraine were announced as Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden prepare for their first summit meeting in Geneva on June 16.
The years-long conflict in eastern Ukraine — including an escalation of tensions since the start of 2021 — is expected to be high on the agenda.
Officials in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic on Friday accused a Ukrainian special operations unit of killing five separatist troops “in cold blood” at an observation post in the village of Golubivske.
Citing Ivan Filiponenko, a spokesman for the local militia, the Lugansk Information Centre the separatist mouthpiece, said that all five had been “shot in the head.”
None were professional soldiers before the conflict between Kiev and Russian-backed separatists broke out in 2014, Filiponenko said.
In a statement, the top Lugansk official, Leonid Pasechnik, accused Ukraine of seeking to escalate tensions.
Kiev rejected the claim.
Citing intelligence, the Ukrainian military said in a statement that five separatist troops died as a result of alcohol-fuelled violence, with one soldier allegedly shooting fellow troops and then committing suicide.
In a separate statement, the military in Kiev said separatists targeted the positions of the Ukrainian troops with grenade launchers in the south of the Donetsk region and one soldier died of his wounds.
Kiev has been battling pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014, following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. The war has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
After a lull last year, fighting escalated at the start of 2021 and in April Russia amassed 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border and in Crimea, prompting warnings from NATO.
Although Russia later announced a pullback, both Washington and Kiev say that the withdrawal has been limited.
Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of sending troops and arms to support the separatists, which Moscow has denied. — NNN-AGENCIES