DHAKA: Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko has dissolved parliament and called snap elections, as government forces continue to fight pro-Russian rebel forces in the east.

Poroshenko said many current MPs were backers of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and that the majority of Ukrainians wanted a new parliament, reports BBC.

Elections would be held on October 26, he said in a TV address.

Separately, Ukraine’s military says it clashed with rebel armoured vehicles that entered the country from Russia.

More than 2,000 people have died in months of fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The two regions declared independence from Kiev, following Russia’s annexation of the southern Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March.

BDST: 0956 HRS, AUG 26, 2014