Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko (centre) visiting a demonstration of new weapons for the Ukrainian armed forces at a military base outside Kiev yesterday. Photo: ReutersUkraine’s President Petro Poroshenko (centre) visiting a demonstration of new weapons for the Ukrainian armed forces at a military base outside Kiev yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine where a Malaysian airliner was downed further complicated an investigation yesterday as Europe and the United States prepared economic sanctions on Russia over the conflict.

At least thirteen people were killed in clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels which raged in five areas around the wider region.

International monitors said they had abandoned plans to visit the crash site due to fears it was not safe, even though Malaysia said earlier rebels had agreed to provide access.

Ukraine said it was trying to dislodge the rebels, but denied it was fighting near the crash site, saying the separatists had put the monitors off by falsely claiming that the army was operating nearby.

International monitors abandon plans to visit the crash site

Russia dismissed US allegations it was about to hand over more missiles to the separatists, who Western leaders say almost certainly shot the airliner down by mistake with a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile.

The separatists deny any involvement and Moscow says it has not supplied them, suggesting Ukrainian forces were to blame.

“Kiev is trying to destroy the evidence of a crime by its army,” separatist leader Aleksander Borodai said, referring to a Ukrainian army offensive some distance from the site yesterday.

With European states trying to minimise the impact of any future sanctions against Russia on their own economies, the US State Department sought to bolster the case for robust action by releasing images it said showed Russian forces had fired across the border at Ukrainian military in the last week.

The images, which show marks on the ground at what the State Department said were launch sites and impact craters around Ukrainian military locations, indicated fire from multiple rocket launchers, the department said.

It also said the images offered evidence that Russia-backed separatists inside Ukraine had fired on Ukrainian forces using heavy artillery supplied by Russia.

Washington has said another transfer from Russia to Ukrainian separatists, this time of heavy-caliber multiple-launch rocket systems, appeared to be imminent and that Russian forces were slowly building up along the Ukrainian border.

Members of the EU, spurred into action by the deaths of 298 people in the airliner, are expected to try to reach a final deal tomorrow on measures including closing the bloc’s capital markets to Russian state banks, an embargo on arms sales and restrictions on dual-use and energy technologies.

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