Russian-backed separatists tried to break through the trench line in the stalemated war in eastern Ukraine, killing one government soldier and wounding four others.

In Kyiv the attack was seen more as a diplomatic feint than a military assault, an effort to gain leverage during talks to end the war. In response, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, convened an emergency meeting of his national security council. The Kremlin denied any involvement.

After a phase of widespread violence in 2014 and 2015, the war settled into a dreary back-and-forth along a frontier consisting of about 270 miles of trenches.

Despite a negotiated cease-fire, skirmishes break out daily, most of them with long-distance artillery. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported nearly 300 000 cease-fire violations by both sides last ye