![cossack 1 etank cossack 1 etank](https://www.fig-aerobic.com/photo/art/grande/55370963-41470360.jpg)
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke Thursday with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia - Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin - about cease-fire violations and their consequences. Russia denies arming the rebels or supplying fighters, but Western nations and NATO point to satellite pictures of Russian military equipment in eastern Ukraine.
![cossack 1 etank cossack 1 etank](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0253/9533/1120/products/100WFR375_00c8a985-88b2-4f7b-a185-cd973d619bfb_1024x1024.jpg)
The war in eastern Ukraine has killed 5,600 people and forced over a million to flee their homes since fighting began in April, a month after Russia annexed the mostly Russian-speaking Crimean Peninsula. The national gas company Naftogaz said the cutoff was due to significant damage to gas transit infrastructure.Ī top official of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, Andrei Purgin, said the region would rely on its gas stockpiles and "seek an exit from this situation in order to switch to using Russian gas."Ī cease-fire for eastern Ukraine was supposed to go into effect Sunday, but Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh said rebels had in the last day repeatedly shelled a village on the outskirts of the strategic port city of Mariupol. Ukraine raised the pressure on the separatists Thursday by cutting off shipments of natural gas to the area. He said two of his men had been wounded in the trip.