WATCH: Dramatic footage of an attack in Eastern Ukraine resulted in one Ukrainian soldier dying of shrapnel wounds and another being wounded.
A top NATO advisor said Ukrainian forces face “continual attacks,” as video emerged from a purported battle with Russian-backed separatists that would be in violation of a three-month ceasefire.
Radio Free Europe captured video footage of a May 24 clash in the village of Shyrokyne, east of Mariupol in the restive region of Donetsk.
One Ukrainian soldier died in the shelling and one other was injured, the U.S.-funded news agency reported.
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According to Radio Free Europe, a Ukrainian military official claimed separatists were firing 120-150 mm calibre weapons from within a 50-kilometre boundary established when the ceasefire was agreed to in February — which both sides have accused the other of violating on numerous occasions.
“There have been frequent reports of shelling at Shyrokyne, near the strategic port of Mariupol, since the ceasefire was agreed. OSCE observers have also recorded heavy shelling there,” Radio Free Europe reported.
Russian government-funded news network RT reported an 11-year-old girl and her father, along with one other civilian, were killed in an attack blamed on the Ukrainian military, in the Donetsk town of Gorlovka.
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NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Thrasyvoulos Terry Stamatopoulous on Wednesday avoided outright blaming Russia and the Russian-backed separatists for breaking the delicate truce.
“It’s not easy to launch wide-ranging reforms while managing a major conflict and deterring continual attacks against your territorial integrity,” Agence France-Presse reported Stamatopoulous saying at a meeting in Kyiv.
More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict between government forces and armed-groups in the Eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which border Russia.
Russia has consistently denied supplying arms and military troops to fight.
Canada, Europe and the United States have all imposed strict economic and travel sanctions on Russia and NATO members (including Canada) have beefed up their military presence in Eastern Europe in response to Russia’s involvement in the conflict.
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