Fighting erupted between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, killing four Ukrainian soldiers. Gennady Moskal, governor of the Luhansk region bordering Russia stated on his website that separatists initiated fire on government positions.
Technically, a ceasefire has been in place since February, however, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said last week that at least 83 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed since then. It is unknown how many casualties the separatists have suffered.
In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Poroshenko said, “this is not a fight with Russian-backed separatists, this is a real war with Russia.” He said that while he did not trust Vladimir Putin, he had to have faith in diplomacy.