2 Ukrainian soldiers killed in fresh conflict with insurgents

Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two other wounded in clashes with eastern independence-seeking insurgents over the past 24 hours, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

"Over the past day, the intensity of the attacks on Ukrainian positions has slightly increased compared with the end of the last week," said Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

The frequent rebel attacks have hindered the start of establishing a weapon-free buffer zone to separate the areas controlled by the government forces and the insurgents, he said.

"The international working group, consisting of Russian and Ukrainian officers as well as the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) representatives, has not started the work on the site because the ongoing fighting poses a threat to their lives," Lysenko said.

During peace talks in the Belarussian capital of Minsk on Sept. 5, Kiev and the rebels agreed to move their artillery 15 km away from the frontline to create a 30-km-wide buffer zone and exchange their prisoners of war.

Lysenko said the two sides are continuing the exchange of captives, and the rebels have handed over 21 prisoners to the Ukrainian army over the past day.

A so-called "regime of silence" enforced in the war-torn areas a week ago brought a relative calm to the eastern regions, with no casualties reported from the rebels and civilians in the last 24 hours. Enditem