Thirteen troops killed in 24 hours in east Ukraine clashes: army

Kyiv (AFP) – Fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has left 13 troops dead in the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s military said Saturday.

“Over the past day, 13 of our guys were killed during the liberation of Ukraine,” National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said, as Kyiv’s forces attempt to retake rebel strongholds in the east and cut them off from the Russian border.