Germany to treat nine seriously wounded Ukrainians
Berlin (dpa) - Germany's air force is to pick up nine seriously
wounded Ukrainians Thursday for medical treatment at German military hospitals.
A medical evacuation Airbus, described by the German Luftwaffe as an "intensive care ward with wings," is to land in the late afternoon in Berlin, where five of the wounded are to be treated.
The remaining four will then be flown in the same Airbus A310 Medevac jet to the northern port city of Hamburg for treatment in another military hospital.
The armed forces said a team of German medical officers chose the nine, all wounded in fighting in eastern Ukraine with pro-Russian separatist rebels.
Germany has led tough sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and its support for the rebels in eastern Ukraine while spearheading diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict.
Berlin was hosting a meeting Thursday of diplomats and experts from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany on constitutional changes being demanded of Ukraine to allow the east autonomy from Kyiv.
Four Ukrainian soldiers killed as fighting tests truce
KYIV, Aug 20 (Reuters) -- Four Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 14 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian rebels in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday, as a new wave of violence rekindled concerns a ceasefire deal could be crumbling.
A notable increase in military and civilian casualties in the past two weeks has prompted the leaders of France and Germany, who helped broker the six-month-old truce, to arrange new talks with President Petro Poroshenko to discuss how to preserve the peace.
Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksander Motuzyanyk reported renewed rebel shelling of government positions near the separatist-held city of Donetsk and mortar fire in villages near the strategic Kiev-controlled port city of Mariupol.
"In this area the enemy does not engage in direct fighting with the Ukrainian army, but regularly fires chaotically from howitzers and GRAD multiple rocket launchers," he said.
Separatist officials accused Ukrainian troops in turn of shelling rebel territory, including residential areas.
On Wednesday, NATO warned Russia, which the West accuses of supporting the separatists with equipment and fighters, that any attempt by the rebels to take more of Ukraine's territory would be unacceptable.
Poroshenko will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Berlin on Monday to discuss the latest escalation in the conflict, which has killed over 6,500 since erupting in April 2014.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has published a list of Ukrainian military personnel who died during a Russian-backed ambush on Ukrainian fighters in Ilovaysk a year ago.
366 Ukrainians died -- 157 of them remain unidentified.
The Ukrainian army entered Ilovaysk, Donetsk oblast, on August 18, taking the majority of the town under their control. Russia then allegedly sent its regular troops to help the separatists and surrounded the Ukrainian fighters. On August 30 Ukrainians began to exit the town through the “green corridor” promised to them, but were shot at by surrounding enemy forces.
The Ukraine Live Blog is now open for August 20.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow, you can keep up with all our Ukraine coverage here.
Vladimir Putin's dive into the Black Sea off Crimea yesterday generated quite a response on social media. Anna Shamanska has compiled this amusing recap.
