Six Ukrainian soldiers killed in troubled east

Six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and over a dozen others injured in new clashes between government troops and pro-Russia forces in Ukraine’s troubled east.

“In the past 24 hours, to our great regret, as a result of the hostilities, six Ukrainian soldiers were killed and thirteen of our men wounded,” Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said at a briefing in the capital Kiev on Sunday. 

He also told reporters that another eight soldiers were suffering from shell-shock, adding that the army sustained most of the losses in fierce shelling by the pro-Russians overnight around Lugansk, located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Donetsk, and in the southeastern government-held port city of Mariupol.

Over the past few weeks, clashes have claimed several lives from both sides despite a fragile ceasefire agreement aimed at halting the 26-month conflict in eastern Ukraine.

SS