Bloodshed mars Ukraine cease-fire

A separatist shell killed at least seven Ukrainian soldiers when it hit their armored personnel carrier near Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine, a military spokesman said Monday, putting additional strain on a fragile cease-fire. 

Meanwhile, at least three civilians died and five suffered injuries overnight in the shelling of a residential area in the northern part of the city, where fighting has centered on the government-held airport, the Donetsk city council said.

In a separate incident, rebels fired a shell from a tank, wounding nine Ukrainian soldiers, and the army returned fire, destroying the tank, said Yuri Biryukov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

All told, civilian and military deaths total at least 10, with at least 32 wounded in the largest outbreak of violence the region has seen in more than a week. The bloodshed in the last two days undermines the optimism of Poroshenko, a chocolate magnate elected in May, who last week praised the fact that military clashes had diminished and that military casualties had dwindled to zero.

Donetsk is a hub of support for Russian-backed armed groups hoping to break away from a government in Kiev allied to the European Union. Leaders of this government ousted a Russian-friendly president, Viktor Yushchenko, after mass street protests last winter.

The demonstrations opposed a proposed trade pact that would have strengthened Kiev’s ties with Moscow. Many Ukrainians retain bitter memories of 70 years of Russian rule as part of the Soviet Union.

In March, Moscow successfully annexed Ukraine’s largely Russian-speaking Crimean peninsula, home to strategic ports where the Kremlin's navy had docked for decades.

The conflict has claimed at least 3,500 lives, including 298 passengers of a Malaysian Airlines plane who died after a surface-to-air missile fired from eastern Ukraine struck the aircraft — an attack Kiev and Western governments have blamed on Moscow-backed rebels.

On Sept. 20, representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the rebels signed an agreement that would require both sides to remove all heavy artillery from the frontline, creating a buffer zone that would allow their cease-fire to be better enforced.

Despite the cease-fire, fighting has frequently flared around Donetsk international airport, held by forces loyal to the government in Kiev. The rebels hold key points inside the city itself.

On Sunday, in the second-largest city in the country, Kharkiv, Ukranian nationalists tore down a statue of Vladimir Lenin to cheers from the crowd. Across Ukraine, people have torn down statues to the former Communist leader in a symbolic display of anti-Russian sentiment.

The authorities in Kharkiv supported the move. Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs and a Kharkiv native, wrote on his Facebook page: "Lenin? Let him fall ... As long as nobody gets hurt."

Al Jazeera and wire services