KIEV: Ukraine has made fresh charges of Russian involvement in its conflict with separatist rebels, suggesting Moscow may have had a role in an air strike on Tuesday that killed 11 people.
The accusations come a day before European Union leaders meet to discuss the crisis, where they might consider adopting fresh sanctions against Russia.
"Tomorrow in Brussels, the heads of state and government will again assess the situation on the ground and, should it be required, adopt necessary decisions," the bloc's enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
In other fighting in the three-and-a-half month conflict with separatists in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, government forces said they had lost another six soldiers in attacks on their positions near the border with Russia.
In all, since the start of the government's "anti-terrorist" operations in mid-April, a total of 258 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed, 922 injured and 45 are captive, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. Hundreds of civilians and rebels have also died.
Pushing hard for the EU - Ukraine's new strategic partner - to take tougher measures against Russia at its Brussels summit on Wednesday, Kiev pointed to the downing of an An-26 military transport plane on Monday and Tuesday's air strike on the Ukraine town of Snizhne.
The town's health authorities said 11 people were killed and eight others injured, including a child, in the attack, which hit a residential area of Snizhne, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border with Russia, destroying 12 apartments.
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