Ukrainian forces press attacks on rebel-held areas

Government troops have pressed attacks in the two largest cities held by rebels in eastern Ukraine, while diplomatic efforts were made to resolve the conflict, which has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced another 300,000.

At least 43 people, including 34 civilians, were killed during the battles in eastern Ukraine over the last 24 hours, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Kremlin announced a summit will be held in Minsk, Belarus, next Tuesday that will also include top officials from Ukraine, Russia, the European Commission, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have not met since early June.

Poroshenko said "stabilizing the situation" in eastern Ukraine will be a key topic of discussion. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said the Russian leader wanted to talk about the deteriorating humanitarian situation there.

Poroshenko will meet on Saturday in Kiev with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany, Europe's largest economy with close business ties with Moscow, has played a leading role in trying to defuse the crisis.

The next two weeks "will be crucial for finding the way to move from war to peace," said Valery Chaly, the deputy head of Poroshenko's administration.

He said Kiev sees a "clear diplomatic road map" ahead and expressed hope that a new approach could be found to end the war.

Poroshenko's efforts to quell the insurgency have been focused on encircling Donetsk, the largest rebel-controlled city and a regional capital. Fighting began in mid-April after Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, while Kiev's forces have recaptured significant amounts of territory from the separatists.

Moscow has denied allegations by Kiev and the West that it has fomented the rebellion in the Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine. It says the Ukrainian government has discriminated against residents of the region who seek closer ties to Russia.

In fighting on Tuesday, one soldier was killed and four were wounded when a pro-Kiev battalion of volunteers came under mortar fire before entering the town of Ilovaysk, 18 km east of Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian troops also captured a neighborhood in Luhansk, battling rebels on the city's streets, National Security Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

The fighting has killed at least 2,086 people as of Aug 10, and it has forced nearly 344,000 to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

The conflict has recently taken a huge toll on Luhansk, a city near the Russian border that has been left without electricity, running water or phone service for 17 days.

Artillery fire heard

Residents were reported to be standing in lines to buy bread.

Artillery fire also was heard across Donetsk, with areas on the outskirts hit hardest, authorities said.

A resident of Olenivka, a village south of Donetsk, told The Associated Press by phone that Ukrainian government troops were firing artillery from fields near her house.

The woman, who asked to be identified only as Tatyana because she feared reprisal from the troops, said houses in her village had been hit by return fire in previous days. Loud blasts could be heard in the background as she spoke.

The eyewitness accounts appeared to dispute statements from the Kiev government that armed forces have refrained from aiming rockets at residential areas.

AP - Xinhua

(China Daily 08/21/2014 page12)