KIEV---Following are key dates in the conflict between pro-Moscow separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine that the United Nations says has killed at least 5,350 people since April 2014.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of arming the rebels and of having deployed thousands of soldiers in Ukraine -- a charge Moscow denies.
-- 2014 --
April 6: Two weeks after Russia annexes the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, pro-Moscow demonstrators seize government buildings in towns and cities across Russian-speaking east Ukraine, including Donetsk and Lugansk.
April 13: Kiev announces the launch of an "anti-terrorist" operation aimed at retaking the rebel zones.
May 11: Voters back independence in referendums in Lugansk and Donetsk that Kiev and the West reject as illegitimate.
May 25: Ukraine's presidential election is won by Petro Poroshenko.
May 26: A major battle breaks out for control of Donetsk's modern airport after it is seized by rebels.
June 27: The EU and Ukraine sign an association agreement, whose initial rejection by pro-Moscow forces in the previous government originally sparked the Ukraine crisis.
July 5: Rebels abandon their main base of Slavyansk in the face of a government onslaught, retreating en masse to regional centre Donetsk.
July 17: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board.
July 29: The EU and the United States broaden sanctions against Russia.
August 25: Rebels mount a counter-offensive in the southeast, reportedly backed by Russian troops and heavy weapons.
September 5: A ceasefire is signed in Minsk, yet violence continues.
October 26: Pro-Western parties win a majority of seats in Ukraine parliamentary elections that are boycotted in the east.
November 2: Separatists in eastern Ukraine vote in Russian-backed elections that Kiev and the West refuse to recognise.
November 12: NATO accuses Russia of sending additional columns of tanks, troops and military hardware into Ukraine.
-- 2015 --
January 22: Donetsk airport falls to rebel forces, who two days later launch an assault on the strategic government-held port city of Mariupol.
February 6: The leaders of Russia, Germany and France agree in Moscow to draw up a blueprint to end fighting, a day after Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande presented their plan to Kiev.
February 8: A peace summit between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine is planned for February 10 in Minsk.
February 9: The Ukrainian military claims at least 1,500 Russian troops and convoys of military hardware have entered the country in the previous two days.
The EU agrees to postpone the implementation of new sanctions against Russia pending the Minsk summit.
Merkel, who opposes sending arms to Kiev, visits Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama on the peace initiative. Obama says that he has not yet decided whether to supply weapons to Ukraine.
February 10: Intense fighting resumes, including a rocket strike on Kiev's military headquarters in the east, far from rebel positions.
Rebels seek to encircle the railway hub of Deblatseve. Ukrainian forces launch a counter-offensive around Mariupol, retaking control of three villages east of the city.
Diplomats scramble to finalise a deal ahead of the Minsk summit.
AFP
