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Kiev says 180 rebels killed in latest clashes in E. Ukraine

Xinhua, February 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

As many as 180 pro-independence fighters in eastern regions of Ukraine were killed during the fighting of the last 24 hours, while government forces lost five soldiers, local authorities said Monday.

"According to the preliminary data, on Feb. 1 the rival forces have lost 180 of their fighters, while 248 others were wounded," Ukrainian military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin said in a televised interview.

The death toll, which was neither confirmed nor denied by the rebel forces, was the biggest reported loss of lives since the fighting in eastern Ukraine intensified last month.

Meanwhile, five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 29 other wounded in the last 24 hours, the National Security and Defense Council said.

Over the past day, four civilians, including a 2-year-old child, were killed in two government-controlled towns along the front- line in Donetsk region, said Vyacheslav Abroskin, the head of the Interior Ministry regional department.

In the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, local municipal council said 15 civilians were killed and 32 injured throughout the weekend as heavy shelling and mortar fire struck four residential districts of the city.

Separately, four civilians were killed during mortar and artillery attacks in civilian areas of the three small towns in Lugansk region, said Lugansk regional governor Gennady Moskal.

The latest upsurge in fighting in eastern Ukraine came after peace talks between the warring sides were canceled in mid-January.

As Kiev has rejected direct negotiations with insurgent leadership, the rebels launched offensive to capture more government-controlled territories, and met strong resistance from the Ukrainian forces.

The latest round of peace talks held Saturday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk was intended to end the ten-month conflict in Ukraine, which has killed more than 5,100 people.

The talks, which were attended by neither any officials from the Ukrainian government nor leaders of the two self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics, ended without an agreement. Endite