3 government troops killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW – A Ukrainian government official says three troops have been killed and six wounded in fighting in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

Fighting between government forces and separatists rebels has recently intensified despite a 2015 truce. More than 9,500 people have been killed in the conflict so far.

Olexander Motuzyanyk, the Ukrainian presidential envoy for the operation in the east, said Thursday that the separatist in the past 24 hours shelled their positions twice as much as the day before.

Separatist officials in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk also reported heavy shelling of their positions in Donetsk and Horlivka, where the shelling cut electricity supply to hundreds of homes and a coal mine.