At least 41 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were killed in one of the heaviest 24-hour spells of fighting in the nine-month separatist war, Kiev and pro-Russian rebel officials said Thursday.
The toll included 13 people killed in a trolleybus shelling in the rebel bastion city of Donetsk and 10 soldiers that Kiev said had died across the war zone since Wednesday afternoon.
Rebel commander Eduard Basurin said another 10 civilians were killed in the Donetsk region town of Gorlivka. The separatist-controlled police department of the neighbouring Lugansk province said at least eight people had also been killed in their area.