A Ukrainian civilian died on Monday in a shelling attack on a government-held village, officials said, with the incident coming as fears were rising of an imminent Russian invasion.
Local officials said the civilian, identified only as a man born in 1970, was killed in an attack on Novoluganske, a settlement 35 kilometres (25 miles) north of the eastern rebel stronghold Donetsk.
The death marks the first officially-confirmed civilian casualty of the year in Ukraine’s eight-year separatist conflict, which has claimed more than 14,000 lives and forced 1.5 million from their homes.
Ukraine’s Western-backed leadership has also confirmed the death of five soldiers this year.
But it comes with clashes in the east intensifying and fears rising of a Russian assault in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would decide later Monday whether to recognise the independence of Ukraine’s two separatist regions, formally tearing up a 2015 peace plan for ending the war.
