Soldiers dying as Ukraine creeps towards truce

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Ukraine said on Friday it had lost another six soldiers in the past day amid fresh reports of intense fighting for control of a flashpoint eastern airport despite tentative steps towards a comprehensive truce.

Military spokesperson Andriy Lysenko said six troops had been killed and 13 injured in the past day but he did not specify where.

Local media and social networks however have been reporting devastating clashes at the airport on the outskirts of rebel-held city Donetsk despite a ceasefire being declared there earlier this week.

A besieged group of government soldiers has been clinging on to the airport against waves of attacks by pro-Russian separatist forces - but little information on the fighting is being released by either Kiev or the rebel command.

All sides of the festering conflict now appear keen to curb the violence, announcing on Thursday that a fresh truce would come into force across the entire frontline on 9 December.

Throughout the eight-month conflict, both sides have been reluctant to admit the full scale of carnage.

An earlier ceasefire in September was agreed in the wake of a bruising battle for the city of Ilovaisk.

It was weeks before the Ukrainian military admitted that 108 troops and many more volunteer fighters had been killed in a failed attempt to take back the town - and only after information had started emerging from unofficial sources.

Although the September ceasefire - overseen by Russia and European monitors - reduced fighting along the frontline, daily clashes have continued in certain areas and it remains unclear if the latest peace efforts will be any more effective.