Ukraine Soldier Killed as Shelling Intensifies

A Ukrainian soldier was killed and 14 others injured as shelling intensified in eastern parts of the country where government forces are fighting pro-Russian rebels, the army said Tuesday.

"One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 14 injured due to military activity" over the past 24 hours, military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a news conference.

The most intense exchanges of fire erupted around Avdiivka, a government-held town near the flashpoint area around the airport of the separatist-held city of Donetsk.

Over the past 24 hours, clashes in the conflict zone "increased considerably", Motuzyanyk said. "The area of violations of the ceasefire by the rebels widened."

It was the latest in a steady series of reported fatalities in the year-long conflict which has killed more than 6,100 people and displaced more than one million, according to the United Nations.

Despite a ceasefire deal, European OSCE monitors say shelling is rumbling on daily at the frontline between the two sides.

Motuzyanyk accused the separatists of using Grad multiple rocket launchers and other heavy artillery banned under the February ceasefire deal.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at the weekend reported a surge in shelling at another flashpoint, Shyrokyne, a village close to the port of Mariupol, the largest city under government control in the conflict zone.

The OSCE said its monitors on Sunday witnessed "the most intense shelling" since fighting began there in mid-February, as well as movement of heavy weapons.

Separatists have threatened a new offensive against Mariupol after commemorations of the Soviet Union's victory in World War II on May 9 are out of the way.