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Rebel representative warns full-scale fighting may resume in E. Ukraine

Xinhua, August 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

A full-scale fighting may resume in eastern Ukraine with rising tensions between the government and the insurgents, a representative of pro-independence insurgents said on Monday.

"The situation may rapidly escalate into full-scale hostilities," Denis Pushilin, the official envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic to the Trilateral Contact Group on the Ukraine crisis, told reporters.

Pushilin accused the Ukrainian army of violating the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed in February 2015.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government military blamed the insurgents for stirring the violence, saying that the Ukrainian forces came under fire 85 times over the last 24 hours.

Later in the day, one civilian was killed and another one wounded during the overnight fighting near Yasynuvata town in Donetsk region, according to the insurgent-run DAN news agency.

Two insurgent soldiers were seriously injured in the hostilities, the agency added.

At least one government soldier was killed and six others were wounded, said Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

Hostilities had eased since September 2015, but this year in May the conflict flared up again as the two sides failed to find common grounds regarding holding local elections in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Overall, some 9,400 people have been killed and almost 22,000 others injured in the conflict that began in mid-April 2014. Endi