At least seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed late on Sunday after a shell fired by pro-Russian separatists hit their armoured personnel carrier near the main airport at Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a military spokesman said on Monday.

It was the largest single number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since a fragile ceasefire came into force on September 5.

Meanwhile, authorities in Donetsk said on Monday that three civilians had been killed and five others wounded overnight by heavy shelling.

The ceasefire has done little to calm tensions in Donetsk, where there has been frequent fighting around the city’s airport, which is held by government forces. The city itself – an industrial hub – is under the control of pro-Russian separatists.

The day’s events appear to contradict Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko’s comments last week that clashes between Ukrainian forces and separatists had more or less stopped –– proof, he claimed, that his peace plan was working.

A United Nations human rights official said on September 23 that more than 3,500 people had been killed in the conflict, including 298 people who died when a Malaysian passenger plane flying over eastern Ukraine was brought down in July.

FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, REUTERS