Russian forces killed two Ukrainian soldiers and wounded six others as the World Cup football tournament opened in Moscow on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian Army.

Russian forces attacked Ukrainian troops 33 times on Thursday, the Ukrainian Army said.

In 15 of those attacks, Russian forces used weapons that were banned under ceasefire deals known as the Minsk Agreements.

Fighting was incessant in Novotshkivs’ke and Orikhove, located near the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, while battles were fought around the towns of Avdiivka, Opytne, Novotroitskoe and Bohdanivka in the Donbas region, and around Vodyane and Lebedynske in the region of Mariupol.

“Ukrainian Army divisions maintained their positions and responded to the enemy... forcing it to cease the provocative attacks,” the Ukrainian military said.

Twelve invading troops were killed and ten injured on Thursday, according to the Ukrainian intelligence service.

Source: Polradio.pl/AR/VB