Five Troops, Civilian Reported Killed in Ukraine

Ukraine on Thursday reported the death of five soldiers while pro-Russian rebels accused government troops of killing a civilian in clashes following failed talks on ending a 16-month conflict in the country's east.

Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters in Kiev that six servicemen had also been wounded in the past 24 hours of fighting across the eastern Russian-speaking provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk.

The insurgents accused pro-Western government forces of killing a civilian after one of their shells hit a jail and sparked a fire in the rebel-held town of Gorlivka.

The two sides and Russia failed to make any progress during three days of European-mediated negotiations aimed at salvaging a widely-ignored ceasefire deal signed nearly six months ago.

The United Nations estimates that the conflict -- sparked by the February 2014 ouster in Kiev of a Moscow-backed president -- has killed more than 6,800 people and driven at least 1.4 million from their homes.

Russia denies accusations by Ukraine and its allies of orchestrating and supporting the conflict to try prevent the former Soviet state establishing closer ties with the West.