Three Ukrainian Soldiers Reported Killed In East

Ukraine says three of its servicemen have been killed and 13 wounded in clashes in the country’s east.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on July 5 that government forces suffered losses in the previous 24 hours across various parts of the 500-kilometre frontline splitting the separatist-held areas from the rest of Ukraine.

Lysenko said the worst fighting centered on the separatist stronghold of Donetsk and the southeastern government-controlled city of Mariupol.

Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,300 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.

Under a cease-fire agreement reached last year in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, both sides pledged to pull back heavy weaponry as well as take other steps toward a peace settlement.

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax