Ukrainian authorities say eight military personnel have been captured by Russia-backed fighters in the eastern region of Donetsk.

 

 Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operations (OOS) in the country's east said in a statement that the soldiers were captured on May 22.

 

 "According to preliminary information, early in the morning today, eight military personnel of Ukraine's armed forces from the OOS took a wrong turn while moving aboard a truck near the town of Novotroyitske and found themselves in temporarily occupied territory, where they were captured by fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces," the OOS statement said.

 

 The Ukrainian military frequently refers to Russia-backed separatist forces who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as "fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces."

It also says that many regular Russian soldiers have fought in the conflict there, a claim that Moscow denies despite what Kyiv and NATO say is incontrovertible evidence.

 

 Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said earlier in the day that three soldiers were wounded in five cease-fire violations by Russia-backed forces over the previous 24 hours.

 

 The separatists in turn accused government forces of violating the cease-fire twice since May 21.

 

 Some 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, when Russia encouraged separatism following the downfall of Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

 

 Cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords -- September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed at resolving the conflict -- have contributed to a decrease in fighting but have failed to hold.

 

 A new cease-fire agreement was reached on March 8, but both sides have accused each other of repeated violations since then.

 

 The conflict in the region known as the Donbas is one of the challenges facing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was inaugurated on May 20. </s> The Joint Forces command is trying to determine their whereabouts.

Eight soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost their way and have been taken captive by the Russia-led forces in the occupied part of Donbas.

Read alsoThree Ukraine soldiers wounded in Donbas amid five enemy attacks on Tuesday

"We inform that, according to preliminary information, eight members of Ukraine's Joint Forces, moving by truck near the village of Novotroyitske, mistakenly deviated from their route this morning and entered the temporarily occupied territory, where they were detained by members of the Russian armed forces," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation wrote on Facebook on May 22.

The Joint Forces command is taking all possible measures to determine the Ukrainian soldiers' whereabouts and return them.

The military prosecutor's office included data in the State Register of Pretrial Investigations. The investigation into the incident is underway. </s> Military officials in Ukraine said that eight soldiers were captured in the eastern region of the country occupied by pro-Russian separatists just one day after Ukraine's newly sworn-in president announced he would submit a peace plan for a referendum.

Pro-Russian separatists and their Russian backers had occupied the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine ever since a pro-Western movement ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. An estimated 13,000 people have since died in the fighting.

During his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, or lose his job trying. His administration also promised to submit a preliminary peace plan, hashed out with Russia, to the people for a vote. But one day later, Ukrainian soldiers were captured in the occupied territories.

"According to preliminary information, early in the morning today, eight military personnel of Ukraine's armed forces from the OOS took a wrong turn while moving aboard a truck near the town of Novotroyitske and found themselves in temporarily occupied territory, where they were captured by fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces," Ukraine's Joint Forces Operations said in a statement.

The Minsk peace process, negotiated by Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, has led to numerous cease-fires. But violations of the cease-fire agreements were reported regularly.

It was unclear how Zelenskiy planned to change the situation on the ground. But on Tuesday, the president appointed a new commander of Ukraine's armed forces, marking the first change in leadership since the conflict broke out in 2014. Lieutenant General Ruslan Khomchak was now the new chief of the general staff. He had years of experience fighting the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, including near Donetsk city.

Also on Tuesday, the Kremlin issued a statement warning Zelenskiy against pursuing further sanctions against Russia, saying that it would harm any effort to broker peace in eastern Ukraine. The comments were made shortly after a top Trump administration official visited Ukraine's capital, Kiev, and warned that Washington would soon pass a bill to sanction Moscow if it continued to pursue a controversial pipeline project, the Nord Stream 2, which would bring cheap Russian natural gas to European Union countries, bypassing Ukraine.

Zelenskiy had called on Washington to sanction Moscow more harshly. Energy Secretary Rick Perry later said the new bill would likely target companies helping to build the new pipeline.

"This is the rhetoric that will not help Ukraine to sort out the problem of the southeast," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned, referring to the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Experts said that the new bill in Washington could effectively deliver an economic blow to Moscow, but was unclear whether the Trump administration would actually move forward with it.

"By focusing on the companies that supply the vessels that lay deep-sea pipelines, the bill has potential to be very effective. It targets one of the only aspects of the project that Russia needs foreign technology for," Brenda Shaffer, an energy expert at Georgetown University, told Newsweek.

"However, as with most sanctions' legislation, the devil is in the details. Congress frequently passes all sorts of sanctions, but most are discretionary sanctions, where essentially the executive can decide to apply them or not," Shaffer continued. "Accordingly, if the administration wants to improve relations with Moscow, it most likely will not apply the sanctions." </s> Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack in the war-torn east of the country on Tuesday, Kiev said, the highest daily casualty toll over the past two weeks.

The troops died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack near the village of Pavlopil close to the Kiev-controlled port city of Mariupol, said Oleksandr Danylyuk, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident an attempt to "undermine" Ukraine's efforts toward peace and called on France, Germany and Russia to "meet as quickly as possible to resume negotiations".

"We will not cease to work toward ending hostilities or leave any attack on our soldiers unanswered," Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.

Tuesday's casualties were the highest daily toll since a truce went into force on July 21 -- the latest attempt to ease hostilities between Ukraine forces and pro-Russian separatists.

In a separate attack, Moscow-backed separatists fired at the positions of the Ukrainian army near the village of Bogdanivka located south of the Donetsk rebel stronghold, military spokesman Dmytro Gutsulyak said.

Separatists used an infantry fighting vehicle, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, he said.

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who carved out two "people's republics" in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have fought since April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea.

Some 13,000 people have been killed in the violence that Kiev blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow has denied claims it has funneled troops and arms across the border.

A series of truce agreements, brokered by France and Germany, have helped dampen hostilities but sporadic and sometimes serious clashes continue. </s> KIEV (Reuters) - The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in an offensive by pro-Russian separatists over the past two days has risen to seven, Ukraine’s military said on Monday, in the deadliest outbreak of fighting in the east of the country since mid-December.

The clashes between Ukraine’s military and the pro-Russian separatists coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for better relations with Moscow that has alarmed Kiev while the conflict in its eastern region remains unresolved.

The rebels began attacking government positions in the eastern frontline town of Avdiyivka on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. Five soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Sunday and two more were killed on Monday, they said.

“The situation in the Avdiyivka industrial zone is challenging. The enemy continues to fire at our positions with heavy artillery and mortars,” Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a regular daily briefing.

The separatist website DAN said on Monday shelling by Ukrainian troops had killed one female civilian and wounded three others in the rebel-held town of Makiyivka, south of Avdiyivka. The reports could not be independently verified.

On Sunday the separatists said one of their fighters had been killed during heavy Ukrainian shelling of their positions.

Both sides accuse the other of violating a two-year-old ceasefire deal on a near-daily basis.

Close to 10,000 people have been killed since fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels seeking independence from Kiev first erupted in April 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was due to discuss the state of the conflict on Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped broker the Minsk ceasefire deal.

Ukraine and NATO accuse the Kremlin of supporting the rebels with troops and weapons, which it denies. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict, as well as for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine is anxious that international resolve to hold Russia to account may waver following the election of Trump, who has spoken of possibly lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and the two men agreed to try to rebuild strained ties and to cooperate in Syria.
The Ukrainian military reports that eight Ukrainian soldiers have been captured by pro-Russian fighters near the village of Novotroyitske.