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Ukraine leader vows to retake separatist-held east

People hold signs that read: 'I am Volnovakha' during a rally on Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, in solidarity with the victims of a rocket attack this week that claimed 13 lives on a highway near the eastern town of Volnovakha, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. Ukraine's government accuses Russian-backed separatists of launching the rocket attack, which hit a passenger bus, but the rebels have rejected that charge. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) People hold signs that read: 'I am Volnovakha' during a rally on Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, in solidarity with the victims of a rocket attack this week that claimed 13 lives on a highway near the eastern town of Volnovakha, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. Ukraine's government accuses Russian-backed separatists of launching the rocket attack, which hit a passenger bus, but the rebels have rejected that charge. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

By Associated Press January 18, 2015 1 min read

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s president has vowed to reassert control over a conflict-shattered eastern region in which fighting hit a new peak of intensity over the weekend.

Petro Poroshenko told a crowd of several thousand gathered Sunday in central Kiev that Ukraine would not “give up an inch” of its land to Russian-backed separatists.

The separatist stronghold, Donetsk, was shaken by intense outgoing and incoming artillery fire Sunday as a bitter battle raged for control over the city’s airport.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Sunday four servicemen had been killed in the previous day’s clashes. The office of the General Staff said separately that three troops had been killed in the airport alone.

Donetsk municipal authorities under rebel control said several locations all across the city came under shelling.