TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY YULIA SILINA 
This photo taken on August 14, 2016 in the town of Shyrokyne, in the Donetsk region, shows a street with buildings destroyed by pro-Russian separatists shelling.
 
Ukrainian paratrooper Boroda says pro-Russian rebels have recently ramped up their shelling of one key village -- a move he links to Moscow's claim of a Kiev plot against annexed Crimea. Boroda, or "the Beard", is the nom de guerre of a member of an air assault battalion defending the once quiet coastal resort village of Shyrokyne that has turned into one of the bloodiest battlefields of the 27-month separatist revolt.
 / AFP / ALEKSEY FILIPPOV        (Photo credit should read ALEKSEY FILIPPOV/AFP/Getty Images)