BBC Online :
Pro-Russian separatists in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk have shelled the city’s airport, which is under the control of Ukrainian government forces.
The rebels have regrouped in Donetsk as the Ukrainian military has retaken territory in the country’s east.
Meanwhile, four Ukrainian soldiers and five coal miners are said to have been killed in separate incidents.
A report by Human rights group Amnesty International has accused separatists of abuses in the three-month conflict.
The group said it had found “graphic and compelling evidence of savage beatings and other torture” by pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine.
The Amnesty report, Abductions and Torture in Eastern Ukraine, said that protesters and journalists had been targeted, and hundreds of people had been abducted.
Pro-government forces had also committed a smaller number of abuses, Amnesty said.
Rebel and government forces confirmed that Donetsk airport had come under fire overnight.
Residents in the area, quoted by Russian news agency Ria Novosti, said they heard explosions and machine-gun fire near the airport, and saw rockets launched towards it.
Rebels quoted by the agency said they were continuing an offensive on the airport, which has been held by Ukrainian government forces after briefly falling into separatist hands in May. Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said on his Facebook page that the airport had been shelled for an hour on Thursday night.
Separately, two Ukrainian soldiers and one border guard were killed after their vehicle struck a landmine near Dovzhansky, near the Russian border.
In another incident, a soldier died close to Karlovka in the Donetsk region, Seleznyov said.
