Nine Ukrainian servicemen died on Tuesday when pro-Russian insurgents shot down an army helicopter in the separatist east just a day after a top militia leader ordered a temporary ceasefire. “There were nine people on board the helicopter. According to preliminary information... Everyone on board died,” Ukrainian defence spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov wrote in a Facebook post. Army officials said the Mi-8 helicopter was downed outside the rebel stronghold city of Slavyansk that has absorbed some of the heaviest fighting in the 11-week insurgency in Ukraine’s Russified eastern rustbelt. The Ukrainian army earlier reported fighting outside the city despite a temporary ceasefire being ordered by a top rebel commander on Monday evening.