At least three government soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded in fighting with independence-seeking insurgents in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, a military spokesman said Friday.
Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said that government troops clashed with rebel forces 57 times on Thursday, and had come under rocket, artillery and tank fire during the fighting.
The insurgents have not made comments on their casualties, but said that 30 civilians were killed in an overnight shelling in Donetsk city over the past day.
Donetsk's municipal council confirmed that there was heavy shelling in a residential area in Donetsk in the previous night, bud did not give the number of casualties.
Donetsk has come under increased crossfire in recent weeks as rebels and the Ukrainian forces fight over the airport on the outskirts of the city.
On late Thursday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law on the "special status" of eastern regions, a concession to the rebels to pave the way for a solution to the armed conflict, which has claimed over 3,660 lives.
The bill increases the authority of local communities by transferring more economic, financial and administrative powers to the regional governments.
However, top insurgent leader Alexandr Zakharchenko emphasized that the rebels want full independence from Kiev, saying that they have not abandoned their plans to hold regional elections in early November.