7 Ukrainian soldiers killed:

Seven Ukrainian soldiers have died in the wartorn east over the past 24 hours, the biggest casualty toll in a single day this year, Kiev said on Tuesday.

The latest violence came as the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine called for the implementation of a peace deal in the separatist east during late-night talks Monday.

“As a result of shelling, seven Ukrainian soldiers have died and nine received injuries over the past 24 hours,” Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, said in a statement.

Turchynov blamed Russia’s leadership for the attacks, accusing it of doing everything to “torpedo a peaceful way to solve the conflict and the liberation of the occupied territories”. He claimed Russia was massing heavy weapons along a demarcation line in the east, adding that over the past month Ukraine had detected an increased number of Russian reconnaissance and other unmanned aerial vehicles.

Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said the deaths represented “extremely heavy losses” for the Ukrainian forces. (AFP)

Turchynov