Russian armed forces are launching three to five artillery attacks a day against Kiev's troops near the border, said a Ukrainian official on Wednesday.
"Artillery fire from Russian soil has gradually been increasing," said Andrey Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security Council.
Lysenko revealed that hundreds of armed assaults had been launched from Russian soil since the first reported breaches of the Ukrainian border by Russian military aircrafts on June 5.
Vladislav Seleznev, spokesman for Ukraine's anti-terror operation said on his Facebook page that Russia continued to breach Ukraine's border from air.
Russian war crafts have penetrated within 50 km of Ukrainian soil. This was clearly seen from the city of Luhansk, said Seleznev.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko met with 17 Ukrainian soldiers who had been taken hostage by pro-Russian separatists in Gorlovka city and their families on Wednesday. They were freed after Ukrainian forces managed to clear out the area. Poroshenko indicated that 168 hostages were still held captive by the militants.
Tension continues to remain high as the pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine declared their intention to break away from Kiev in March, which claimed around 500 lives so far.
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