Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine say 24 of their fighters have been killed in a rocket attack on the recently captured airport outside their main stronghold city of Donetsk.
Rebel defense spokesman Eduard Basurin said the terminal was targeted by Ukrainian Government forces on Friday with Uragan multiple rocket launchers.
The separatist seizure ofthe virtually obliterated airport this week after months of bitter battles was a major blow for beleaguered Ukrainian offensives in the east.
Diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met this week to thrash out a tentative dividing line from which the warring sides would pull back their heavy weapons.
Separatists have warned, however, that they intend to continue their advances and take more territory.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the conflict in Ukraine that began last April now exceeds 5,000 and may be far more, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
“The significant escalation in hostilities has taken the toll to 5,086 individuals and we fear the real figure may be considerably higher,” UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.
The toll includes 262 people killed in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the past nine days, “the most deadly period” since a ceasefire was declared in early September, he said.