KIEV (Reuters) – Fighting raged yesterday at the main airport of Ukraine’s city of Donetsk as separatists resumed attempts to break the tenuous grip of government forces on the complex and Kiev’s military said three more Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.
With attempts to restart peace talks stalled, pro-Russian rebels have stepped up shelling attacks to break the resistance of government troops dug in at the airport, itself a wrecked hulk battered by months of war.
Though its runways are cratered and it has long ceased to function, the airport has symbolic value for both sides and has become the main flashpoint in the fighting as prospects for fresh peace talks have dimmed.
A planned meeting of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and separatist leaders on the Ukraine crisis failed to materialise in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Friday.
A meeting of the so-called ‘contact group’ is seen as vital for getting the warring parties to observe a real ceasefire.
