13 killed in eastern Ukraine confrontation

The Ukrainian authority said Friday that 13 people were killed and 14 wounded since Thursday in the confrontation between governmental troops and insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for the National Security and Defence Council, said that two government soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the confrontation near the airport on the outskirts of Donetsk, Xinhua reported.

Ukrainian intelligence indicated that a new batch of armored vehicles, heavy artillery and personnel came as reinforcement to insurgent forces in the areas surrounding Donetsk airport, Lysenko said.

Earlier in the day, the government's military operation said that at least 10 insurgents had been killed in fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk regions since Thursday.

Thursday, Laurent DuPasquier, a 38-year-old Swiss national and a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross was killed after a shell landed near the office of the organisation in Donetsk.

According to UN's estimation, the violent confrontation in eastern Ukraine has killed over 3,000 people since mid-April and forced hundreds of thousand of others to flee the restive areas.