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Hundreds of Ukrainian troops are feared to have been massacred by pro-Russian forces who allegedly reneged on a deal to allow them to retreat.

Soldiers loyal to Kiev had been attempting to pull out of a besieged town 22 miles east of Donetsk.

Bodies were said to be littering an agreed retreat route where dozens of prisoners were taken by rebels.

Lt Col Nikolai Gordienko, of the Ukrainian National Guard, said: “They were given the corridor to exit and they were shot.

"It is a violation of international conventions.”

Ukrainian volunteer battalions said soldiers had been waving white flags when they were fired on from all sides as they left Ilovaisk.

(Image: AFP)

Rebels launched new assaults last week, said to have been bolstered by equipment and manpower sent by Moscow.

The pro-Kiev Crimea battalion released grim images of corpses and wrecked vehicles.

It wrote: “Here’s Russia’s ‘green corridor’. Hundreds of bodies, dozens of prisoners.”

The commander of the largest volunteer battalion trapped in the town named Russian units involved as the 137th Regiment of the 32nd Division of the Russian army and Ninth Tank Brigade.

But a rebel fighter said convoys were “captured” after more troops than agreed tried to leave the area.

The reported massacre follows days of heavy fighting, with accusations by pro-Kiev forces that their government has fallen short of equipping them with heavy weapons.

(Image: Facebook/sotnja.krym)

The EU has given Russia a week to draw down its military activities or face new sanctions.

But President Vladimir Putin said that an end to fighting “largely depends on the political will of current Ukrainian authorities”.

He also called on Kiev to hold “substantive, meaningful talks” to end the fighting but he did say for the first time that “statehood” should be discussed.

Pro-Moscow forces claimed responsibility for an attack on a Ukrainian naval cutter in the Azov Sea, off the eastern port Mariupol.

The ship came under fire from shore artillery and footage showed explosions at sea.

Fatalities were reported but no death toll given.