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Ukraine crisis: Military losses climb in war for east Russia arrests Ukrainian officers for 'war crimes'
(about 1 hour later)
Government forces in eastern Ukraine have lost 15 soldiers within a day as they push against pro-Russian rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Investigators in Russia have announced the arrest of five Ukrainian army officers for alleged war crimes as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine.
Fifteen were killed and 79 injured on Thursday, the government said, two days after 18 were killed - the highest daily death toll reported in weeks. The officers from Ukraine's 72nd Mechanised Brigade are apparently among hundreds of soldiers who crossed into Russia to flee from pro-Russian rebels.
Government forces have been accused of bombarding residential areas from the ground and the air, killing civilians. It is unclear on what grounds Russia can prosecute the officers, who reportedly deny the charges.
International monitors have been surveying damage to homes. Meanwhile, government forces in eastern Ukraine lost 15 soldiers within a day.
Around 1,500 people, both civilians and combatants, have been killed since Ukraine's new government sent forces into the east in April to put down an armed uprising by the separatists. Fifteen were killed and 79 injured on Thursday, the Ukrainian government said, two days after 18 were killed - the highest daily death toll reported in weeks.
Western sanctions against Russia over its role in events in Ukraine prompted a sharp response from the Kremlin this week when it retaliated by banning most food imports from the US and EU. Government forces have been accused of bombarding residential areas from the ground and the air, killing civilians, as they try to recapture rebel strongholds. International monitors have been surveying damage to homes.
Russia is accused by Western countries of fomenting the rebellion in eastern Ukraine by backing and arming the rebels, though it denies this.
In other developmentsIn other developments
Arrests in Russia
In a statement (in Russian) on its website, Russia's powerful Investigative Committee (SK) announced that the five officers had been detained following questioning of 400 soldiers from the 72nd Brigade and Ukrainian border guards, who crossed into Russia on Sunday (earlier reports said Monday).
The Ukrainian service personnel were housed by Russian border guards in a tent camp near Gukovo, in Russia's Rostov region, after surrendering their weapons. Many have since returned to Ukraine under Russian escort.
Battalion commander Ivan Voitenko and four of his subordinates - Vitaliy Dubyniak, Olexander Poliakov, Olexander Ohrimenko and Dmytro Ustylko- were detained as part of an investigation into the "use of banned means and methods of conducting war", the SK said.
They are accused of using heavy weapons to bombard two towns in Luhansk region, Krasnopartizansk and Krasnodon, between 19 July and 3 August, killing "at least 10 civilians" and destroying homes.
The men admit taking part in military operations but deny attacking civilians, the Russian investigators said. They are also being investigated for attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian statement, signed by SK spokesman Vladimir Markin, ends with a political attack on the detainees, suggesting that they had been "intoxicated by nationalism".
Last month, Russian prosecutors charged a captured Ukrainian army pilot, Nadiya Savchenko, with complicity in the murder of two Russian journalists.
Border battleBorder battle
Fighting erupted as Ukrainian troops on the border with Russia, in Luhansk region, broke out of a rebel encirclement on Friday and rejoined other government forces, military sources told Ukrainian media. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been documenting damage to civilian installations in east Ukraine.
National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that seven soldiers and eight border guards had been killed in the fighting.
On Monday, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers retreated across the border into Russia after also being trapped by the rebels in Luhansk. They were housed by Russian border guards in a camp after surrendering their weapons.
Many have since returned to Ukraine under Russian escort.
On Thursday, another Ukrainian warplane, a Mig-29 fighter, was shot down over Donetsk region, where air strikes had been reported earlier in the week.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been documenting damage to civilian installations in the region.
On Thursday, a team visited a city hospital in Donetsk hit by shells, the OSCE said in a tweet. They also inspected damage to housing in the war-torn town of Shakhtarsk, close to the site of the flight MH17 crash last month, another tweet said.On Thursday, a team visited a city hospital in Donetsk hit by shells, the OSCE said in a tweet. They also inspected damage to housing in the war-torn town of Shakhtarsk, close to the site of the flight MH17 crash last month, another tweet said.
International investigators suspended their work at the site on Thursday because of nearby fighting. International investigators suspended their work at the site on Thursday because of nearby fighting. The destruction of the jet has been blamed in the West on a rebel-fired missile, a charge the separatists deny.
The destruction of the jet has been blamed in the West on a rebel-fired missile, a charge the separatists deny. Around 1,500 people, both civilians and combatants, have been killed since Ukraine's new government sent forces into the east in April to put down an armed uprising by the separatists.
Western sanctions against Russia over its role in events in Ukraine prompted a sharp response from the Kremlin this week when it retaliated by banning most food imports from the US and EU.