Civilian deaths reported in east Ukraine shelling

Intense shelling rocked several small towns and villages in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region during the weekend, causing civilian casualties, reports from Ukrainian authorities and pro-independence rebels showed on Monday.

In a period from Friday to Sunday, a resident of Dzerzhynsk town was killed when a shell hit her house, a Kiev-controlled Donetsk regional administration said, without specifying the exact time of the incident.

Meanwhile, the self-styled defense ministry of the self-claimed Donetsk republic said that two civilians were killed during the Saturday's shelling of Zaitseve village, 20 km east of Dzerzhynsk.

The casualties, for which the rival sides have blamed each other, marked the first civilian deaths from combat in eastern Ukraine conflict over the past few weeks.

In the last 24 hours, there were no reports about casualties among Ukrainian troops or rebel soldiers.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has begun in mid-April 2014, has already claimed the lives of more than 9,000 people.

Last week, the Contact Group on Ukraine's crisis agreed to establish the "full and unconditional regime of silence" in the restive region under which the rival sides should completely cease the hostilities. Endit