Young girl among six killed in east Ukraine
Kiev (AFP) - A five-year-old girl, a mine company worker and four government soldiers were killed Friday during fighting in war-torn east Ukraine, officials said.
The child died and her mother was seriously wounded when rebel mortar fire hit a village near the frontline northwest of the major rebel stronghold of Lugansk, a military spokesman in Kiev and local officials said.
Pro-Kiev local governor Gennadiy Moskal said the mother was taking her daughter to a local clinic when the incident occurred.
"A shell exploded nearby as a result of which the child sadly died on the spot and the mother was heavily injured," he said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the regional police force wrote on Facebook that the girl's mother was in intensive care and that "medics were fighting to save her life."
In another incident, a mining company official was killed and two others injured when shelling hit a coal mine northeast of main rebel stronghold Donetsk, mining firm DTEK said in a statement.
Elsewhere, Ukraine's military said four soldiers died and five others were wounded Friday as government positions came under bombardment around the region.
In the previous 24 hours, one soldier died and another six were injured, a spokesman said earlier.
The casualties are the latest in seven months of fighting in eastern Ukraine that has claimed the lives of over 4,000 people, according to figures from the United Nations.
A ceasefire was agreed between government forces and Kremlin-backed separatist fighters in September which has halted fighting along much of the frontline but not stopped artillery bombardments around strategic hotspots.
Authorities in Donetsk, where government troops are battling to keep control of the ruined international airport, said that shelling overnight destroyed several houses but no civilians were injured.
Fears are mounting of a return to full-scale fighting in the east after NATO accused Russia of pouring fresh armoured columns and troops across the border to bolster separatist forces.
Moscow has angrily denied the allegations that it is involved in the fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday arrived in Australia for a G20 summit where he is set to face a hostile reception from Western leaders.
The West's relations with Moscow have grown increasingly tense since the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in July, killing 298 passengers and crew including 38 Australian citizens and residents.
