Russia accuses NATO of stoking tensions as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack on one of Ukraine’s last lines of defense to protect the last strongholds held by Kyiv in eastern Ukraine, while the head of the Russian Security Council accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to stir up a new confrontation between Russia and the West.

Russian troops advanced towards the Donbass towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the last major towns in the region still under Ukrainian control after months of slow Russian gains in the region.