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Ukrainian soldier killed in fresh clashes: spokesman

Xinhua, March 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Ukrainian army reported Wednesday losses in eastern Ukraine conflict after three days in which no fatalities were confirmed.

One Ukrainian soldier has been killed and five wounded in clashes with pro-independence rebels in the past 24 hours, said government military spokesman Andriy Lysenko, accusing the insurgent forces of opening "provocative fire" against Ukrainian positions.

Meanwhile, the press service of the government military operation in eastern regions said in a statement that the ceasefire regime, which took effect on Feb. 15, was broadly observed in the combat area despite isolated violations.

Over the past day, the rebel forces carried out 10 attacks on Ukrainian army, the statement said, claiming that government soldiers fired "only in response".

There were no reports on civilian or rebel casualties in the previous 24 hours.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has eased significantly last month after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande reached a peace agreement on Feb. 12 in Minsk, capital of Belarus.

According to the United Nations estimates, over 6,000 people were killed in the conflict, which has been raging in Lugansk and Donetsk regions since April 2014. Endite