Ukrainian soldier killed as tensions with Russia rise

US President Joe Biden was due to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday after warning Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time of a tough response should he invade Ukraine.

In his New Year’s Eve speech, Zelensky said that ending the war in the east remains his “primary goal.”

“A military man from the Joint Forces was mortally wounded,” the army said in a statement, adding that the separatists had launched three attacks in 24 hours, using grenade launchers and small arms.

The army did not provide further details on how the soldier was killed.

Tensions with Moscow have soared in recent months, with Russia concentrating troops near Ukraine’s borders.

The West has accused the Kremlin of planning an invasion.

This week, Biden made his second phone call with Putin in just over three weeks, threatening Moscow with significant economic sanctions should it launch an attack.

The Russian leader said the sanctions against Moscow would be a “colossal mistake.”

On December 22, international observers said that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to reestablish a ceasefire, but the next day, Kiev and the separatists accused each other of further violations.

The soldier’s death on Saturday was the first since the truce was agreed.

All previous ceasefires, including the previous truce agreed in July 2020, collapsed.

Kiev has been fighting a pro-Moscow insurgency in two separatist regions bordering Russia since 2014, when the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has so far left more than 13,000 dead.