Fighting between Government forces and pro-Russian rebels left at least 10 civilians dead in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, as international experts pushed on with their grim hunt for remains at the crash site of downed flight MH17.
The deputy mayor in the besieged insurgent stronghold of Donetsk told AFP that shooting in a residential suburb had killed six civilians and injured 13, the latest victims of more than three months of civil war that has claimed at least 1,150 lives.
local authorities in the second-largest separatist bastion of lugansk said shelling had left three dead and eight injured, while the city council in the frontline rebel base of Gorlivka reported one dead and 16 hurt in clashes there.
Ukraine’s military said its positions in the region continued to come under heavy bombardment, including shellfire allegedly from across the porous border with former Soviet master Russia.
Government forces have made major gains over the past month and say they are getting close to cutting off fighters in Donetsk from the Russian border and their comrades in lugansk.
Kiev has promised to stamp out the insurgency in the near future but analysts warn the fighting could drag on as rebels have holed up in major cities and pledged to battle to the death. And it is civilians in the blighted region who are bearing the brunt of the violence.