Six Ukrainian Soldiers Killed As Rebel Uprising Marks First Anniversary

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - At least six Ukrainian servicemen were killed in separatist attacks on Sunday in Ukraine's troubled eastern regions in a grim weekend marking the first anniversary of a rebellion against Kiev's pro-Western rulers.

Four Ukrainian soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a shell fired by the Russian-backed rebels as it drove across a bridge in the government-held town of Schastye, 170 km (105 miles) north-east of the big regional center of Donetsk, regional police said.

In a separate incident less than an hour later, a landmine exploded under a military vehicle at Shyrokyne, east of the Sea of Azov city of Mariupol, killing two soldiers and injuring a third, a military spokesman said on the TV channel 112.

The new casualties, which followed the deaths of three Ukrainian servicemen in a landmine explosion on Saturday, put further strain on a tenuous ceasefire struck two months ago.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/05/us-ukraine-crisis-attack-idUSKBN0MW0BA20150405