Daily casualties in E. Ukraine highest since ceasefire

KIEV, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and seven others injured in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, which marked the highest daily casualty toll in the conflict since the fresh ceasefire, reports from the conflicting parties showed Thursday.

The press service of the government military operation in eastern regions said on Facebook that three soldiers of the Ukrainian army were killed and four others wounded while performing combat tasks in the conflict area.

The Ukrainian army has accused pro-independence rebels of using banned weapons, including mortars and heavy machine guns, during their attacks on the government positions.

Meanwhile, the rebel-run DAN news agency, citing the insurgent operation command, accused the government of using artillery for the first time since the ceasefire came into force.

Three civilians -- two young men and an elderly woman -- were wounded in the attacks on the non-government controlled areas in the past day, the news agency said.

There were no reports of casualties among the representatives of the anti-government armed groups.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine started in April 2014 and has killed more than 10,000 people so far.

On Dec. 20, 2017, the Trilateral Contact Group for settling the Ukraine crisis reached an agreement for a ceasefire starting from Dec. 23 for civilians to be able to celebrate the winter holidays.

More than 30 previous rounds of truce attempts have failed, with the two sides accusing each other of ceasefire violations. Enditem