At least 11 people, including six civilians, were killed in clashes between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, ahead of high-level talks to find a political solution to the crisis.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kiev on Saturday. He is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior EU officials Tuesday, during a summit of the Russia-led Customs Union in Belarus.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council said that at least five soldiers were killed and 21 wounded over the past 24 hours, according to local media reports.
Authorities in Donetsk said that at least two civilians were killed by artillery shelling in the city. Prison authorities in the neighbouring city of Makiivka said that four inmates were killed and eight injured when a shell hit a prison.
Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko confirmed that an Su-24 fighter jet had been shot down by the rebels on Wednesday over the Luhansk region, and that both pilots ejected from the plane.
Lysenko said he had no information about claims by the rebels that they had also shot down two Mi-24 helicopter gunships that day.
Much of Thursday’s fighting centred on Ilovaisk, a town east of Donetsk that serves as an important railway hub.
At least 16 members of the National Guard and volunteer formations have been killed in fighting around the town over the past days, said Anton Herashchenko, a Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor.
A rebel spokesman told the Interfax news agency that the insurgents had retaken Ilovaisk and encircled government troops outside the town.
Meanwhile, a Russian aid convoy of almost 280 lorries was still standing at the border with Ukraine waiting for customs inspections.
GNA
PDC
