Over 200 Ukrainian soldiers killed in August offensive

Kiev, Sep 10 (IANS/EFE) In what has been described as the worst defeat of Ukrainian forces in their war against pro-Russian rebels, at least 200 soldiers were killed in August in fighting, the country's prosecutor general Vitaliy Yarema said Wednesday.

"No fewer than 200 men were killed around Ilovaisk," Efe quoted Yarema as saying.

The prosecutor general was responding to queries on Ukrainian casualties in the fighting that took place during the last week of August in Donetsk region.

Yarema said an investigation was underway into whether the high number of fatalities "was due to objective circumstances or was the result of errors in the command of the military units".

He said military prosecutors questioned many officers, including the chief of the military's general staff Viktor Muzhenko and the commander of the south military group, Lt. Gen.Peter Litvin Mikhailovich.

The fighting in Ilovaisk coincided with the beginning of a counter-offensive by the pro-Russian militias, which, according to Kiev, included Russian regular troops, and forced the Ukrainian forces to withdraw.

--IANS/EFE

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