A Ukrainian soldier was killed on the front line in clashes with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, the army said on Thursday (December 2nd).

In a statement, the latter accused the separatists of firing at its positions with a grenade launcher and large-caliber machine gun.

This death brings to 61 the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since the beginning of the year in the east of the country according to a report established from official sources.

It comes at the height of tensions with Russia.

The soldier was killed on Wednesday, the army press service told AFP, which added that it had lost six soldiers in the area in November.

The separatists have reported the loss of some 40 of their fighters since the start of the year.

Russian troops at the border, according to Ukraine

Kiev and its Western allies have been claiming for several weeks that Russia has massed troops on Ukraine's borders in anticipation of a potential invasion. 

Moscow, for its part, denies any belligerent inclination and sees Ukraine's declared desire to recover Crimea, territory annexed by Moscow in 2014, as a "direct threat", the Kremlin indicated on Thursday.

At the end of October, videos began circulating on social media claiming to show movement of Russian troops, tanks and other heavy weapons towards the Ukrainian border.

Ukrainian officials say that Russia has deployed around 115,000 troops there.

Moscow is also accused of supplying troops and weapons to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russia's intimidation ahead of meeting with Biden

In the past, Russia has already massed troops on the border with Ukraine, especially in April, when around 100,000 troops were deployed there.

Moscow assured to have withdrawn them shortly after the announcement of the first summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden.

Some analysts then said that Russia had shown its muscles to put itself in a position of strength as the meeting approached.

While Moscow and Washington are currently discussing the organization of a new summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, experts believe that Russia could resort to the same tactic.

A meeting is scheduled for Thursday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in Sweden on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) . 

With AFP

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