There has been a definite upsurge in violence in recent weeks in Donbas, with an increase in the daily casualty rate, and as reflected in the deaths of around 30 Ukrainian troops in the month of July – the largest monthly casualty toll since the latest cease-fire deal agreed last September.

That said, over the intervening period of the last year or so, more than 100 Ukrainian troops have still been killed in hostilities in the east, and at least this number of civilians and rebel combatants – close to 10,000 people have been killed in total since the conflict began in mid-2014.