Government soldier killed in east Ukraine as situation remains 'tense'

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and another one wounded in eastern Ukraine in the past day, a government military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said here Tuesday, describing the situation in the conflict zone as "tense."

"The situation in the area is tense, but manageable. In the past day, the enemy fired 10 times from mortars and 4 times from tanks against Ukrainian positions," Lysenko told reporters during a media briefing.

Lysenko said that areas surrounding the government-controlled Mariupol city and the rebel stronghold of Donetsk have witnessed the heaviest fighting in the previous day.

In Avdeevka town, some 20 km north of Donetsk, a civilian woman was severely wounded with shrapnel, when a shell struck her household, the regional department of the Interior Ministry said, blaming independence-seeking insurgents for the incident.

The rebels, however, insisted they are adhering to a ceasefire, which took effect on Feb. 15, and accused government forces of shelling several villages in Donetsk region.

The self-styled defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic said that the Ukrainian army has violated the truce 39 times in the past 24 hours, using artillery, tanks and grenade launchers.

The Minsk ceasefire agreement, which obliges both sides to halt hostilities and to withdraw their heavy weapons from the frontline, was a turning point in the conflict, which rages since April 2014. Since the deal came into force, fighting in eastern Ukraine has eased despite sporadic clashes.