The shelling began at 3.40pm – round after mortar round hitting the small border town of Novoluhanske. One soldier was seriously injured while two others had died earlier in the day along this part of the Donbas. It is an area that has faced sustained barrages in the last three days.
The increase in attacks has come amid repeated claims by the separatist leadership of the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk that the Ukrainian government, backed by the west, is about to launch an offensive. It has been claimed that bombings have taken place in the breakaway areas and the authorities have announced a general evacuation of the population to Russia because of the supposedly rising threat.
