The Ukrainian authorities said today that two soldiers of their forces were killed in the past 24 hours during confrontations with armed separatists loyal to Russia in the east of the country, while Sergey Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, said that representatives of his country and America discussed the situation in southeastern Ukraine.
Kiev accuses Moscow of gathering its forces near the eastern border between the two countries in the past few weeks, and there are reports that pro-Russian separatists have increased their attacks on Ukrainian forces.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Kiev, Ilyas Karam, stated that since the renewed confrontations between Ukrainian forces and separatists on March 26, 29 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense confirmed its adherence to the ceasefire agreement, and accused the separatists of establishing new military fortifications along the front line, stressing that its forces remain on alert.
The separatist narration
On the other hand, the separatists announced that the Ukrainian army had bombed their sites in the Donbas region, and representatives of the so-called Lugansk People's Republic said that the Ukrainian forces had violated the ceasefire 6 times, and that the size of the human and material losses due to the bombing was being verified.
Al-Jazeera correspondent at the Russian-Ukrainian border, Al-Amin Dargami, stated that there are Russian military movements in the Rostov Province near the border with Ukraine, as Russia pushed military vehicles to the border area.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the Russian military moves near the border with Ukraine did not pose a threat to Kiev or anyone else, and that Moscow was moving its forces inside the country as it saw appropriate.
On 30 March, the Ukrainian Chief of Staff Ruslan Homchak announced that Russian forces had sent units to an area near the border under the pretext of conducting military exercises. NATO expressed its concern last week about what he described as a large Russian military buildup near the border. From eastern Ukraine, after Russia warned that a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Ukrainian Donbas region could "destroy" Ukraine.
Russian-American Communications
On the political front, TASS news agency today quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov as saying that Russia is conducting high-level contacts with the United States on aspects of tension related to Ukraine.
The Russian official added that his country informed the American side of the details of what is happening in the Donbas region, noting that the United States and Ukraine have carried out provocative practices in the aforementioned region.
On the other hand, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuliba said that Russia is escalating and does not exchange Ukraine its peaceful approach to resolving the conflict by diplomatic means, and the Ukrainian minister added in an interview with Al-Jazeera that Ukraine will always defend its sovereignty and will succeed in this.
It is noteworthy that relations between Kiev and Moscow have been witnessing escalating tension for about 7 years due to Russia's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula to its territory, and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.