3 civilians, 1 soldier killed in east Ukraine

Three Ukrainian civilians and one soldier have died in the past day of intensifying clashes between the Western-backed government's forces and pro-Russian insurgents, officials from both sides said Thursday.

The eastern Donetsk region's self-proclaimed deputy defence minister Eduard Basurin told AFP that three women died when Ukrainian forces shelled Gorlivka, a rebel bastion about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Donetsk city.

The Kiev-appointed governor of the neighbouring war-torn province of Lugansk reported the death of one soldier in a mortar attack on the edge of the disputed demarcation line between the two forces.

Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have accused both Kiev and separatist fighters of breaching a February ceasefire agreement that required the withdrawal of heavy weapons from a mutually-agreed buffer zone.

Western organisations reported the death of nearly 35 people last week in the first serious upsurge in clashes since the so-called Minsk II agreement was signed in the Belarussian capital with the help of Germany and France.