11 killed in intensified fighting in E Ukraine

Fighting between government forces and pro-independence insurgents in eastern Ukraine has intensified overnight, leaving at least 11 people dead, reports from the conflicting sides showed Monday.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said two government troops were killed and seven others injured in the fighting, which concentrated around the insurgent-stronghold of Donetsk and near the government-controlled port city of Mariupol.

"In the past 24 hours, the conflict in eastern Ukraine continued to escalate. In the direction of Donetsk and Mariupol, the enemy actively used heavy weapons, including non-rocket and rocket artillery," Lysenko told a media briefing.

The press service of the Interior Ministry said that a 22-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man were killed during an overnight shelling of Sartana town on the Mariupol outskirts. Six other people, including a child, were wounded in the shelling.

Besides, a man in his late 50s was killed when a shell hit his house in Krasnogorovka town, 30 km west of Donetsk, the press service added.

Although the Ukrainian army claimed that the insurgents have launched a new offensive against them to seize Mariupol, the insurgent forces denied it, accusing the government troops of "provocation" aimed at recapturing Donetsk and its neighboring towns.

The insurgent-run DAN news agency said that at least six civilians were killed and eight others wounded in clashes in Donetsk and its outskirts last night.

The casualties in the past day's fighting have been one of the highest since the conflicting sides in eastern Ukraine signed a ceasefire agreement in mid-February.

More than 6,800 people have been killed and around 17,100 others wounded since the confrontation started in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine. Endi