DONETSK, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Sporadic exchanges of artillery fire have resumed in the southeastern parts of Ukraine's restive Donbas region, local militia told RIA Novosti Sunday.
"[Pro-Kiev] forces are pounding militia positions outside the village of Bezimenne. We are responding in kind with harassing mortar fire," a source at the militia headquarters in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said.
Military activity has intensified along the line of engagement close to the militia-held southern areas where DPR headquarters are observing an increase in reconnaissance and subversion operations by Ukrainian government's National Guard troops, the source told RIA Novosti.
On Sunday, Donetsk self-defense forces destroyed an armored personnel carrier outside the village of Pyshchevyk in the south after it tried to cross into the DPR territory. "At least one government soldier died," militia said.
Donbas has been gripped by fierce fighting since mid-April when the government in Kiev launched a sweeping military operation in southeastern Ukraine to crack down on protesters.
The recent skirmishes come as Ukrainians are going to the polls to vote in a new parliament. Up for grabs are 423 seats in the 450-seat unicameral parliament, known as the Verkhovna Rada. The electoral threshold has been set at five percent.
