About 40 Ukrainian recruits took part in a competition for a chance to serve in the all-volunteer Azov Battalion and to be send to the eastern Ukrainian conflict zone. The Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists on 13 August have exchanged heavy artillery fire despite a ceasefire that banned such weapons from the front lines, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said. The Ukrainian government pointed to the heaviest combat since a ceasefire was agreed in February, and said two people had been killed and 10 wounded in the last 24 hours as some 153 artillery rounds were fired at Ukrainian positions. The rebels alleged that civilians were killed in fighting near Donetsk, a separatist stronghold. The Azov Battalion is a military volunteer unit within the Ukrainian National Guard. The unit is said to be ultra-nationalist, extreme right-wing orientated and even labelled neo-Nazi. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY