This ends our live blogging for July 4. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
More from AFP on the three servicemen killed in the east:
Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in fresh clashes between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the former Soviet republic's war-torn east, Kiev said Tuesday.
Government forces suffered losses across various parts of the 500-kilometre (310-mile) frontline splitting the self-proclaimed "people's republics" of Lugansk and Donetsk from the rest of Ukraine, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told AFP.
He said the worst fighting centred on the rebels' de facto capital Donetsk and the southeastern government-held port city of Mariupol, which links separatist territories with the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula.
"We observe an escalation in these areas. Some rebel shellings lasted for several hours," Lysenko said.....
More from our news desk on the soldiers killed in the eastern Ukraine today:
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.
That ends the live blogging for today.