by James Tweedie

SEVEN people were killed in 24 hours of fighting in eastern Ukraine, reports from the Kiev regime and anti-fascist officials indicated yesterday.

The clashes were the latest in a series of breaches of February’s ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and the EU.

Anti-fascist commander Eduard Basurin said three civilians, including an 11-year-old girl and her father, had been killed in the city of Gorlovka.

Emergency workers said a man and child had died when their home was struck by shells. A woman and two children were pulled alive from the rubble. Two anti-fascist troops were also killed in the fighting.

The Kiev-appointed Lugansk regional government said that one civilian and one soldier had been killed in mortar and grenade attacks.

Mr Basurin said the shelling indicated that Kiev had not adhered to the terms of the ceasefire, which required the removal of heavy artillery from the region.

“If the artillery was removed 50 kilometers as agreed, it could not have reached the town,” he pointed out.

Kiev authorities say around 8,600 civilians and soldiers have died in the conflict that began last year.

At least one civilian was killed in Donetsk last week after a shell hit a block of flats during a barrage aimed at anti-fascist positions.

Last week, the Ukrainian parliament approved an order removing the obligation to uphold some human rights in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, arguing that “anti-terrorist operations” made them irrelevant.