Ukraine Says Three Soldiers Killed, Five Wounded In East

Ukraine says three of its servicemen have been killed and five wounded in the country’s east.

A military spokesman in the eastern region of Luhansk said three soldiers were killed and two wounded when their vehicle hit a mine on the highway between the villages of Novotoshkivske and Hirne on March 1. 

A military spokesman in Kyiv said another three government troops were wounded in exchanges of fire over the past 24 hours near the front line separating separatist-held parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions from the rest of Ukraine.

Two Ukrainian troops were wounded as a result of firing in the government-held towns of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, while another soldier was injured in a booby-trap blast near the village of Kamianka. 

Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 people since April 2014.

The Minsk peace agreement signed a year ago has helped reduce the violence, but skirmishes have continued.

Based on reporting by AFP and UNIAN