Ukraine rebels say 1 killed in Donetsk despite truce

Ukrainian army fire killed one person and wounded another in the pro-Moscow rebel bastion of Donetsk in the east on Saturday, despite a truce that had held for several weeks, the separatists said.

"According to initial reports, the (casualties) are civilians," the rebels' news agency said, citing their "defence ministry".

Earlier, the ministry was cited by Russian news agency Interfax as saying it was actually a rebel fighter who died.

It was unclear what weapons had been fired, with the rebels first claiming Ukrainian forces had used tank fire, and then saying there were mortar rounds.

The Ukrainian army condemned what it described as a "provocation aimed at destabilising the situation in the east," spokesman Vladislav Seleznev told AFP.

"Under no circumstance would we ever fire against civilians," he said.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), whose observers are deployed in eastern Ukraine, could not immediately comment on the incident.

Source: AFP