Ukraine’s precarious ceasefire was on the verge of collapse after a wave of attacks yesterday by pro-Russian insurgents left 13 people dead, including nine soldiers.
The killings came following a renewed drive by forces loyal to Moscow to take over Donetsk airport, currently being held by the Ukrainian army.
Military officials said that separatists with tanks staged repeated attacks on the airport but were held back.
It is the worst day of violence since a shaky truce took effect on September 5. Since then 57 people have died, according to officials.
“Nine soldiers were killed and 27 wounded in all,” said Andriy Lysenko, a National Security and Defence Council spokesman.
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He added that some of the losses came when the rebels destroyed a Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier carrying paratroopers.
Three civilians were killed in the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, and another died in Makiyivka, a city just northwest of Donetsk, when a shell hit a house, local officials said.
Under the European-brokered ceasefire the two sides were supposed to have withdrawn from the frontline to create a 30km buffer zone.
The insurgency has already killed more than 3,200 people according to UN figures and, despite the deal, a lasting solution seems no closer.
Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, stressed that the army would continue fighting if the insurgents failed to silence their guns and announced on Sunday that the army had created a “reliable frontline” in the east.
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A Russian army delegation of about 70 people arrived last week in eastern Ukraine, headed by Alexander Lentsov, the deputy commander of Russian ground forces. Several members of the delegation travelled to Donetsk to urge the separatists to respect the truce.
“We are going to convince [the rebels], use reason with them. That is the most important thing,” Commander Lentsov told Ukrainian television at the weekend, in rare public remarks by a senior Russian military official.
Moscow denies having sent regular troops to eastern Ukraine, but Kiev argues that large contingents of soldiers and heavy equipment from Russia were behind a rebel offensive last month in which they seized control of a chunk of territory and forced the government to agree to the ceasefire.