In UKraine, three soldiers were killed in a fresh clashes in the country's rebel east. The military said three officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed as a result of shelling near the Avdiivka base, north from the rebel stronghold Donetsk. <br/><br/>Kiev had earlier reported that Kremlin-backed separatists used Grad rocket launchers to shell residential areas, which left 17 houses in ruins. Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said two civilians were also killed in Zaytseve, northeast of Donetsk.<br/><br/>Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the start of a pro-Russian insurgency in 2014 which Kiev and the West accuse Moscow of masterminding.