Ukraine launches ‘all-out attack’
Ukrainian government says it has launched an “all-out attack” on the eastern city of Donetsk which is still held by pro-Russia protesters.
Ukrainian interior ministry on Thursday said the military push was launched "across several parts of the front", and may last for another month.
The attacks follow a warning by the Ukrainian government to pro-Russia protesters that it planned to take back control of the troubled eastern region.
Earlier on Thursday, three Ukrainian army troops were killed and 27 others wounded during the latest clashes between pro-Russia protesters and Kiev soldiers in the country’s east.
According to the leader of the self-proclaimed “Lugansk People’s Republic,” Valery Bolotov, around 50 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the fighting over Lugansk airport, which is in the hands of government forces.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to continue military operations against pro-Russia forces in the country’s eastern regions.
On July 5, Ukrainian forces retook control of Slavyansk following overnight attacks. Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said fighters only left Slavyansk to protect the civilian population.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking parts in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia activists and the Ukrainian army since the government in Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the pro-Russia protests.
Violence intensified in May after the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the ongoing military campaign in Ukraine, which has also forced tens of thousands to escape to Russia
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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/10/370734/url-ukraine-launches-allout-attack/