Donbas militants intensify attacks, three Ukrainian soldiers wounded in action

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions mainly in the Mariupol and Donetsk sectors, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA) as of 18.00 on September 30, according to the press service of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters.

Photo from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry


"Since the early hours of Saturday morning, the militants have opened fire three times from various types of grenade launchers and small arms on the Ukrainian defenders in the south-eastern outskirts of Avdiyivka. Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded amid shelling at 12:45 local time. Pro-Russian mercenaries used the same weapons near Butivka coal mine at night. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of the enemy attack on the ATO forces near the village of Pisky," the report said.  In the Mariupol sector, the situation remained tense near the village of Vodiane, where the occupiers used grenade launchers and large-caliber machine guns three times. The Ukrainian strongholds near the villages of Bohdanivka and Shyrokyne came under enemy fire as well. "Simultaneously with the shelling of Ukrainian positions, which confirms the enemy's non-compliance with peace agreements, the militants continue to impede the process of restoring Donbas infrastructure. At the moment, the anti-damage protection of the dam at the phenolic plant in the village of Novhorodske, as well as gas pipeline branches in the town of Maryinka and the village of Krymske requires urgent repairs. The facilities are in close proximity to the contact line," the ATO HQ said. At the same time, failure to perform reconstruction work could lead to an aggravation of the humanitarian situation and contamination of adjacent soils on both sides of the contact line.



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Russia’s accusations against Ukraine over death of OSCE monitor in Donbas absurd - MFA Ukraine

Ukraine stresses the absurdity of Russia’s claims that the Ukrainian forces were to blame for the tragic death of an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s observer, a U.S. citizen, in a militant-controlled area in Donbas in April 2017, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna said, addressing the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council September 28, 2017.

Photo from UNIAN

The Ambassador stated that the safety and security of the OSCE SMM “must definitely remain a priority for all OSCE participating States, which established this Mission. “One of these States, the Russian Federation, tries to escape its responsibility for serious incidents with the SMM monitors in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by its hybrid forces, including the tragic incident of 23 April 2017 near Pryshyb,” said Ukraine’s envoy. “Today we heard the absurdity of so-called conclusions drawn by Russia from the report of the external investigation into the incident. Evading responsibility was the aim of the Russian side when it announced its idea on the deployment of the UN peacekeeping operation, which would be limited only to the protection of the SMM monitors,” Prokopchuk said. As reported earlier, Russia’s envoy to the OSCE at the Permanent Council’s meeting Sept 28 blamed Ukraine in the death of an OSCE monitor in the occupied part of Luhansk region. UNIAN memo. On April 23, 2017, the car of the OSCE mission patrol was blown up on a mine outside the village of Pryshyb in the part of Luhansk region controlled by Russian proxy forces. An OSCE observer, U.S. citizen Joseph Stone was killed in a blast while observers from Germany and the Czech Republic were injured. Right after the tragic incident, the Kremlin-controlled media have resorted to exploiting the death of an OSCE monitor for propaganda purposes, accusing Ukraine military of shelling the site where the landmine hit an OSCE patrol vehicle and claiming that Kyiv was impeding the investigation. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry responded to the accusation and dismissed it as groundless and fake. And interactive map developed by the Ukraine Crisis Media Center that tracks fighting in the occupied eastern territories shows that Ukrainian armed forces have not shelled any areas around Pryshyb, the village in Luhansk oblast where the OSCE vehicle hit a mine. On Aril 23, all shelling in Luhansk province took place in the area of Stanytsia Luhanska and Valuiske, areas held by the Russian-backed militants, according to Stopfake.org. During an April 24 briefing about the mine incident, OSCE Ukraine Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug did not mention any Ukrainian obstruction into the investigation, nor did he say that the area was being shelled.

German officials had concerns over possible full-blown war between Ukraine, Russia

There were several occasions throughout the Ukrainian-Russian conflict when German foreign ministry was concerned that an actual war could break out between the two countries, spokesman for the ministry Martin Schaefer said at his last press conference in office before resignation, Deutsche Welle reports.

Photo from UNIAN

"There were two or three situations in the Ukrainian crisis when we were seriously afraid that war would start between Russia and Ukraine," he said, according to DW. Speaking in Berlin on Friday, Schaefer announced that he was leaving his post after seven years in office as a speaker for the German foreign ministry. He worked under three ministers. Now he is appointed Ambassador of Germany to the Republic of South Africa.
Earlier in the German foreign ministry assured that the parliamentary elections held on September 24 would not cause a shift in the country’s foreign policy toward Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a peacekeeping mission, which the UN could deploy in Donbas should have access to all territories controlled by Russian proxy forces.

                                                                          Read more on UNIAN: https://www.unian.info

Separatists in Ukraine declare creation of new 'state' Malorossiya

Members of the armed forces of the separatists in Donetsk

Russian-backed rebels fighting against Kiev announced on Tuesday the creation of a new "state" that they said would take the place of Ukraine and have its capital in their territory.

The proposed country - which has no chance of getting off the ground - would be founded after a referendum and called Malorossiya, a tsarist-era name meaning "Little Russia" that once described most of the area covering modern-day Ukraine.

A constitution presented by rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko said representatives from the insurgents' self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk "People's Republics" and other regions had agreed to "declare the establishment of a new state, which is the successor of Ukraine."

The document - released by the separatists' news agency - said rebel bastion Donetsk would become the capital, while Kiev would be reduced to the status of a "historical and cultural centre".

Leader of self-declared Lugansk “People’s Republic” Vladimir Degtyarenko denied taking part the project and expressed doubts about “the appropriateness of this decision,” the Lugansk Information Center news outlet reported Tuesday.

“Such decisions can only be made based on people’s opinion. Aside from that, right not we are complying with the Minsk agreements, and there’s no alternative to that,” Degtyarenko was quoted as saying. 

Ukrainian nationalist protesters and military veterans 

The surprise proposal elicited immediate reaction from Ukraine's pro-Western authorities in Kiev, who have been locked in a conflict with the Moscow-supported rebels since 2014 that has cost the lives of some 10,000 people.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday that he would “restore sovereignty over Donbass and Crimea,” and predicted that the Malorossiya project would fall apart, just like the Novorossiya project did earlier.

Petro Poroshenko speaks at a press conference during his meeting with Georgian President Georgy Margvelashvili in Tbilisi on Tuesday

The Kremlin used the tsarist-era name "Novorossiya" (New Russia) to refer to the areas the rebels had seized, but the term was later dropped.

According to the rebels, 19 regions of Ukraine have supported the move. The Kremlin hasn’t yet commented on it. Two Russian lawmakers called creating a new “state” in Ukraine unavoidable.

State Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that Ukrainian authorities have reached a dead end in Eastern Ukraine, and the new state could be a way out.

Pro-Russian militants pose on July 13, 2014 with a 'Novorossiya' flag in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in July 2014

“People can’t be at war forever; creating an independent state could be a way out for them,” he said. Federation Council senator Sergei Tsekov echoed his sentiment: “federalization” is necessary for Ukraine, he told the Lenta.ru news website on Tuesday, and the decision to create Malorossiya would “push Kiev [closer] to it.”

In the meantime, German government expressed hope that Russian authorities will officially denounce the project, RIA Novosti reported. 

“We expect Russia to immediately denounce the move and not recognize it nor respect it,” the German cabinet press service told RIA Novosti in written comments.

“Resolving the conflict in Ukraine is only possible through negotiations, which entail complying with the Minsk agreements.”

A woman holds a map depicting Novorossiya (New Russia), during a rally in support of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" in June 2014

It was not immediately clear why the rebels decided to put forward the new plan, but it is likely a gambit aimed at pushing forward their case in a stalled peace process.

A peace deal brokered by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany in 2015 has hit a wall as clashes drag on along the volatile frontline.

The latest move by the rebels could throw the troubled plan even further into doubt. It echoed language used by Moscow in the early days of the conflict that promoted fears Russia was looking to annex swathes of mainland Ukraine after its seizure of the Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine and the West insist that Moscow has funneled troops and arms across the border to fan the flames of the war in Europe's backyard.

Moscow has denied the allegations despite overwhelming evidence that it has been involved in the fighting and its explicit political support for the rebels.

                                                  By DARIA LITVINOVA

КИНУТІ НАПРИЗВОЛЯЩЕ": ТЕРОРИСТИ З ТЕРИКОНІВ-БЛИЗНЮКІВ ОБСТРІЛЮЮТЬ МЕШКАНЦІВ ПІВДЕННОГО

Українські армійці позбавлені можливості контролювати село Південне, що на Донеччині. Бойовики прострілюють його з двох найближчих териконів. Це українське село фактично є сірою зоною з кинутими напризволяще мешканцями
Село Південне (кол. Ленінське) де-юре – підконтрольна Україні територія. Тому всі, хто там мешкає, вільно перетинають український блокпост. Звісно, якщо вони є у списку, який нині узгоджують представники цивільно-військового співробітництва.
Де-факто, село з двох териконів-близнюків контролюють бойовики, фактично утримуючи мешканців у заручниках. У разі надзвичайної події їхати у так звану "сіру зону" ніхто не хоче – ані швидкі, ані пожежні, ані ремонтні бригади.

"От підходить зима. Ні вугілля завезти, ні дров завезти. Ну так добре, що я ще більш-менш ворушусь. А у нас є люди по 80 з лишком років. Хто про них попіклується?" – питається місцевий мешканець Володимир.

Крім того, з висот поблизу села пострілюють ворожі снайпери. "Причому, з різних позицій, снайпери такі підготовлені. Не курсанти, не "учебка". Конкретно знають, куди прийшли", – розповідають армійці.

Єдині, хто має доступ до села – гуманітарні місії. Сьогодні вони везуть мешканцям будматеріали.

"Спускалися вже не раз. Там били, небезпечно. Знаємо, але така робота. Потрібно людям допомагати, тому що якщо не ми, то ніхто туди і не спуститься", – пояснює представник гуманітарної місії "Проліска" Владислав.

Саме там, у районі Південного, з розтрощеного снарядами водогону щодня витікають у землю сотні кубометрів води, підтоплюючи людські оселі. У той час як Торецьк, куди іде труба, залишається без води. Дозволу поремонтувати пробитий водогін російська сторона не дає вже майже півроку.

Взяти де-факто село під контроль українська армія може. Але зайти туди з боєм – означає підставити під вогонь місцевих, а це майже 200 мешканців Південного та переселенці, яких лише більшає.

Бойовики наплювали на перемир'я: українці зазнають втрат

Бойовики у зоні АТО за добу 17 липня 17 разів порушили режим перемир'я. 


Як повідомляє прес-центр штабу АТО в Facebook, на Донецькому напрямку протягом чотирьох годин бойовики атакували українські позиції біля Авдіївки. Тут вони використовували міномети калібру 120 і 82 мм, гранатомети, великокаліберні кулемети, стрілецька зброя. Через обстріли обстрілів один український військовий отримав поранення, ще один травмований. 
Також бойовики атакували Піски і шахту Бутівка.
У Новозванівка і Новоолександрівці, що на Луганському напрямку бойовики атакували з великокаліберних кулеметів.

На Маріупольському напрямку опорні пункти в Лебединському бойовики обстріляли з мінометів калібру 120 мм.
Українські солдати відповіли 10 разів.
Раніше портал "Знай.ua" повідомляв, що бойовики обстріляли вночі передову патрульну базу спеціальної моніторингової місії ОБСЄ в Попасній (Луганська обл.), Через що спостерігачі змушені були евакуюватися.

Cotswold public schoolboy who went to fight in Ukraine survives assassination attempt

Adam Osmayev

A former public school boy who was once jailed for plotting to assassinate Vladimir Putin is in a serious condition after being gunned down in an apparent attempted contract killing. 

Adam Osmayev, a former pupil of Wycliffe College who commanded a pro-Kiev battalion in the war in eastern Ukraine, was rushed to hospital after being shot twice by a hit man in Kiev on Thursday night. 

Kiev police said in a statement that Mr Osmayev survived after his wife opened fire on the attacker, shooting him four times in the chest, hip and back. 

Amina Okueva, who was uninjured in the attack, said in a statement on Facebook on Friday that her husband was in a "serious but stable" condition and that she had been informed the attacker had a bullet stuck in his spine. 

"He has the murders of many Chechens on what is left of his conscience, including in Europe. I am glad he got what he deserved from my hand," she wrote. 

Although Ms Okueva did not elaborate, she appeared to be referring to the murders of a number of critics of Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, over the past decade. 

Kiev police said the attack happened when the couple agreed to meet a man posing as a journalist from the French newspaper Le Monde. 

The attacker was carrying a Ukrainian passport in the name of Oleksandr Dakar, but police said they had not yet established whether the document was genuine. 

Mr Osmayev, 36, is a native of Chechnya, the north Caucasian republic of Russia that saw two brutal wars in the 1990s and 2000s. 

He was educated at Wycliffe College and the University of Buckingham in the 1990s and early 2000s, when his father Aslanbek was a high ranking official in charge of the republic’s oil reserves. 

The family fled Chechnya after falling out with Mr Kadyrov, who came to power after the death of his father in 2004, over lucrative oil contracts.  

Mr Osmayev moved to Ukraine, where in February 2012 he was arrested and charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin with an attack on his motorcade.

Although his extradition to Russia was halted by the European Court of Human Rights, he spent nearly three years behind bars in Odessa for illegal possession of explosives and forgery. 

After his release in 2014 he joined a battalion of Chechen volunteers fighting against Russian-backed separatists in the war in eastern Ukraine. 

The battalion, founded by a prominent Chechen field commander called Isa Munayev, included several dozen Chechens who had fought against Russian troops in the wars of the 1990s and 2000s.  

They saw service in several major battles in 2014 and 2015. When Munayev was killed in February 2015, Mr Osmayev succeeded as commander of the battalion. 

Chechens have fought on both sides of the war in east Ukraine, with troops loyal to Mr Kadyrov showing up on the pro-Russian side. 

BY Roland Oliphant

Ukraine bans Russian social networks in sweeping expansion of sanctions

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko

Ukraine will block access to the country's most popular social networking sites and other Russian-based web businesses under new sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea and war in east Ukraine. 

Access to Yandex, a Russian equivalent of google that provides search engines, maps, and other popular tools, and  social media sites Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, will be banned under a decree signed by Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine, on Tuesday. 

The decree bans Ukrainian web hosts from linking to the Russian websites from May 15. 

The decision was described in a decree posted on the presidential website as part of economic sanctions against Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has sent weapons, equipment, and troops to support a fuel the separatist side in a war in eastern Ukraine. 

However, some Ukrainian officials have also described it as a national security measure. 

"The servers of these Russian social networks ... store the personal data of Ukrainian users and information on their movements, contacts, communications," Volodymyr Ariev, an MP from President Petro Poroshenko's political faction, said on Facebook.

Other websites blocked under the order include those of the cyber security firms Kaspersky Lab and DrWeb.

The decrees also imposes asset freezes and broadcast bans on Russian television channels TV Tsentr, RBK, VGTRK, NTV-Plus, Zvezda, TNT, REN and ORT. 

It is not clear how Ukraine will enforce the ban. 

About 60 percent of Ukrainian internet users are active on Vkontakte, a survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology found last year. 

About 50 percent use Odnoklassniki and 40 percent Facebook, the same survey found. 

Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house, called the Ukrainian move “destructive and unlawful.”

"Everything is done to forcibly break Ukraine’s citizens from Russia’s information space,” he said in comments carried by TASS. He did not say whether Russia would consider retaliatory measures.  

By Roland Oliphant

Інфографіка Міністерства оборони України. Ситуація станом на 2 травня 2017 року.

Зведення прес-центру штабу АТО за минулу добу станом на 06.00 2 травня 2017 року.

Підрозділи російсько-окупаційних військ продовжують провокаційні обстріли позицій сил АТО.

За минулу добу ворог 55 разів відкривав вогонь по опорних пунктах українських захисників.

На Приморському напрямку, по позиціях поблизу Павлополя ворог гатив зі 120-міліметрових мінометів, гранатометів, кулеметів великих калібрів та стрілецької зброї.

З мінометів калібру 82-мм, озброєння БМП, зенітних установок ЗУ-23-2 та великокаліберних кулеметів противник бив по опорних пунктах поруч Мар’їнки.

Вогнем мінометів калібру 82-мм, гранатометів, кулеметів великих калібрів та стрілецької зброї ворог накривав позиції неподалік Гнутового.

82-міліметрові міномети, гранатомети різних систем та кулемети великих калібрів підрозділи російсько-окупаційних військ застосовували по оборонцях Красногорівки, а озброєння БМП, протитанкові гранатомети, великокаліберні кулемети та стрілецьку зброю – по захисниках Водяного.

З гранатометів різних систем ворог вів вогонь по позиціях сил АТО в районах населених пунктів Талаківка, Широкине, а з кулеметів великих калібрів – поблизу Новотроїцького. У районі Павлополя діяли ворожі снайпери.

На Донецькому напрямку, вогнем з мінометів калібру120-мм та 82-мм, протитанкових ракетних комплексів, озброєння БМП, гранатометів та стрілецької зброї противник накривав позиції поруч Луганського.

Міномети калібру 120-мм та 82-мм, озброєння БМП, гранатомети, кулемети великих калібрів та стрілецьку зброю ворог застосовував по опорних пунктах неподалік Авдіївки. Зі 120-міліметрових мінометів, озброєння БМП, гранатометів та великокаліберних кулеметів ворог гатив по захисниках Верхньоторецького, а з гранатометів різних систем та стрілецької зброї – по оборонцях Новгородського, Майорська, Зайцевого та шахти «Бутівка».

На Луганському напрямку, з автоматичних гранатометів та кулеметів великих калібрів ворог вів вогонь по опорних пунктах біля Новозванівки.

Автоматичні гранатомети та стрілецьку зброю противник застосовував по позиціях поблизу населених пунктів Валуйське, Кримське, Малинове, станиця Луганська.

В окремих випадках, коли виникала безпосередня загроза життю і здоров’ю військовослужбовців, командири приймали рішення на адекватне відкриття вогню у відповідь.

За минулу добу чотири військовослужбовці Збройних Сил України отримали поранення.

Russia and Ukraine trade blame over fighting as locals report worst night of shelling in months

A woman holds bread at the entrance of her home that was damaged by shelling in the eastern city of Avdiivka on Thursday

Intense shelling in eastern Ukraine hit civilian areas on Thursday night as an escalating battle between government forces and Russian-backed separatists entered its sixth day.  

Several civilian apartment blocks in the Ukrainian-controlled town of Avdiivka suffered direct hits during what was described as the heaviest night of shelling since renewed fighting broke out nearly a week ago. 

Russian-backed separatist authorities said intense shelling had also hit civilian areas of separatist-held city Donetsk.  

Ukraine said on Friday morning that four soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours. Both sides have reported civilian casualties.

A neighborhood with buildings damaged in shelling in the Russian-backed separatist controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine.

At least 20 people, including soldiers from both sides and civilians, have been reported dead since fighting erupted near a contested area north of Donetsk on Sunday.

The escalating battle has seen both sides using multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery that they promised to pull back from the front line under the 2015 Minsk peace agreement.

Reporters with the Associated Press heard Grad missiles being fired from both sides of the lines on Thursday.

The renewed violence has left thousands of civilians without electricity, gas, and in some cases water and central heating, as fighting knocks out key infrastructure that supplies towns on both sides of the front lines.

Pavel Zhebrivsky, the governor of the government-controlled part of Donetsk region, said on Friday that a ceasefire had been arranged via a joint Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire monitoring centre so repairs could be made to damaged power lines.

The arrangement would see both sides of the conflict send repair crews to fix the damage, he said.

The war in eastern Ukraine has been locked in an uneasy deadlock since Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, negotiated a ceasefire deal in February 2015.

 Follow

Tom Burridge @TomBurridgebbc

Last night felt like another major escalation in fighting here in east #Ukraine. We could hear shelling 1 hr from #Avdiivka.

9:20 PM - 2 Feb 2017 · Ukraine

 
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The latest fighting is some of the most serious since that agreement was signed, raising the risks of a return to the all-out warfare that tore up the region two years ago.

Russia and Ukraine traded blame for the escalation in violence at a session of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday night.

Ukraine's UN ambassador, Volodymr Yelchenko, who holds the presidency of the Security Council for February, said the strife around Avdiivka started with artillery shelling by the Russian army and Russian-backed fighters from the two suburbs they control near the town. 

Nikki Haley, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine on Thursday and warned Moscow that US sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea will remain until the peninsula is returned to Ukraine.

Russia, which covertly deployed troops to the conflict two years ago, on Friday accused Ukraine of “breaking the Geneva convention” and using weapons banned under the Minsk agreement.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said in Moscow that what she called Kiev's "barbarism" had no justification and that Ukrainian armed forces had heavily shelled areas where women and children lived overnight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine of starting the escalation to rally support from the new US administration and other Western powers.

BY Roland Oliphant 

Locals and aid agencies warn of 'humanitarian disaster' as Ukraine fighting sparks diplomatic crisis

Local residents examine the remains of their flat after it was hit by shelling in the government-held town of Avdiivka

International aid agencies warned of a "humanitarian disaster" on Friday as escalating fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine threatened to spark a diplomatic crisis. 

Russia and Ukraine have blamed one another for starting an increasingly violent battle near the Ukrainian-held town of Avdiivka and the separatist-held city of Donetsk that has killed at least 20 soldiers and civilians on both sides since Sunday.

People walk past a crater left by an explosion after shelling in Donetsk on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017

Locals said at least three civilians were killed shells landed in a residential area of the government-held city of Avdiivka on Thursday night and early on Friday morning, in what was described as the heaviest in fighting for two years.

The town's chief of emergency services and a British photographer were among the wounded.  

Christopher Nunn, a documentary photographer from Huddersfield, was inside an apartment block that was struck by shelling late on Thursday night. He was reported to be in a stable condition. 

Russian-backed separatist authorities said Ukrainian shelling of civilian areas of Donetsk had killed at least one civilian and injured more on Friday morning.

A car next to a shell crater in a residential area of separatist-held Donetsk

"We have had many flare-ups before and yet somehow the sides have pulled back, reverting to an uneasy, often violent static confrontational stance," Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE ceasefire monitoring mission in Ukraine, said on Friday.

"Now however the stakes are even higher, there is a potential humanitarian and ecological disaster about to unfold," he added. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross called on both sides to pull back forces and agree to "safe zones" around key infrastructure that thousands of civilians rely on for heating, electricity, and drinking water. 

The fighting has already damaged electricity cables and water, gas, and heating pipelines, leaving thousands of civilians in both Avdiivka and Donetsk without key utilities during a severe cold snap. 

Pavel Zhebrivsky, the governor of the government-controlled part of Donetsk region, said on Friday that a ceasefire would be arranged so maintenance crews from both sides could repair damaged power lines. 

We have received a lot of help, but if the war continues those efforts will mean nothing. I don’t want this town to become another Homs or AleppoMusa Magomedov, director of the Avdiivka Coking Plant

Musa Magomedov, the director of the Avdiivka Coking Plant, said power had not been restored in the town, where an estimated 16,000 people live, as of early evening, although his factory was trying to generate extra heat and electricity  to make up for shortfalls. 

“There has been no shelling this bad since the ceasefire was signed in 2015,” he told the Telegraph, adding that one of the factory's female staff was killed when a shell landed near her home on Thursday night. 

The Avdiivka coking plant is the largest in Europe, employs 4000 people, and has operated throughout the war despite losing 10 staff members to shelling

“We will keep the factory operating as long as humanely possible and we are doing our best to generate electricity and heat for the town, but without extra capacity and fuel we are struggling,” he said by telephone.

 “We have received a lot of help from volunteers, but if the war continues those efforts will mean nothing. I don’t want this town to become another Homs or Aleppo,” he added.

Ukrainian servicemen give free food to local residents at the humanitarian aid center in Avdiivka

The war in eastern Ukraine has been locked in an uneasy deadlock since Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, negotiated a ceasefire deal in February 2015.

The two men have blamed one another for the current escalation in violence. 

Mr Poroshenko said Russia and the separatists forces it supports were “fully responsible” for the deteriorating situation and the deaths of soldiers and civilians.

“I stress that it is completely wrong to say that Russia does not support the militants – every unit has Russian military personnel who perform orders of the Russian Federation,” he said in a statement on Friday. 

The Kremlin laid blame for the escalation of “aggressive” Ukrainian actions and expressed hope that the separatist forces had “enough ammunition” to respond.

 "The main thing is to persuade Kiev to drop such reckless actions which are capable of undermining the Minsk peace process," said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Mr Putin. 

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told Jean-Marc Ayrault, his French counterpart, that the fighting could nullify the stalled Minsk peace-process, Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday.

Vladimir Putin, French president Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko at peace talks in Minsk in February 2015

Earlier the Russian foreign ministry accused Ukraine of “breaking the Geneva convention.”

The comments followed a heated exchanges at the United Nations Security Council in which Russia said Britain should  “clean its conscience” by “giving back” the Falklands and Gibraltar before it passes judgment on the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.  

“I would like to advise: give back the Malvinas [Falkland] Islands, give back Gibraltar, return the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean, which you turned into a huge military base. Then perhaps your conscience will be a little cleaner and you can hold forth on other topics,” Vitaly Churkin said at the meeting on Thursday evening.

Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the UN, had said Russia’s attempts to blame the Ukrainian government for the crisis were “an inversion of reality.”

Nikki Haley, who was appointed US ambassador to the United Nations by Donald Trump last month, warned the violence could scupper the new administration’s wish to improve ties with Russia.  

In a strongly worded statement, she condemned Russia's "aggressive actions" in eastern Ukraine and said U.S. sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea will remain until the peninsula is returned to Ukraine.

BY Roland Oliphant

Donald Trump says US will work with Kiev and Moscow to end Ukraine conflict

Petro Poroshenko

President Donald Trump said he was willing to work with both Kiev and Moscow to resolve a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, following a telephone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday.

The call was the first direct contact between the two leaders since the inauguration of Mr Trump, whose aim to improve relations with the Kremlin has alarmed Kiev while the nearly three-year-old conflict remains unresolved.

It followed fresh artillery attacks in Ukraine's Donbass region, which broke a lull in shelling at a front line hot-spot that had raised hopes the conflict's worst escalation in months was waning.

"We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border," Mr Trump said in a White House statement after talking to Mr Poroshenko.

Trump's open admiration for Russia's President Vladimir Putin and campaign pledge to mend ties with Moscow have raised questions over his administration's commitment to maintaining sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the fighting and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Mr Poroshenko's office said the conversation with Mr Trump paid particular attention to "settlement of the situation in the Donbass and achieving peace via political and diplomatic means".

"The two sides discussed strengthening the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States," it said in a statement.

Earlier the Ukrainian military and Russia-backed separatists accused each other of launching a new wave of shelling. The past week has seen a flare-up in hostilities in which more than 40 people have been killed in both government- and rebel-held areas.

The escalation near the town of Avdiivka has left thousands on both sides of the front line with little or no access to power or water amid freezing winter temperatures, prompting aid agencies to warn of a possible humanitarian crisis.

The US and EU sanctions against Russia are linked to accusations from Kiev and Nato that the Kremlin has driven the conflict by supporting separatists with troops and weapons - a charge it denies.

Russia says Ukraine instigated the latest surge to firm up Western support, while Kiev accuses the Kremlin of stirring up the violence to test the new US administration's will to involve itself in the crisis.

Mr Trump said his respect for Mr Putin would not affect his foreign policy.

"I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with him. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not," Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Saturday.

BY REUTERS