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It was a bitter setback for the Ukrainian forces, which have struggled to suppress an armed insurgency by foes of the new government, and came only a week after the new president, billionaire candy magnate Petro Poroshenko, spoke about a peace plan in his inaugural address.

Pro-Russia separatists shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane today, killing all 49 crew and troops aboard in a bloody escalation of the conflict in the country's restive east.