KIEV, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 16 people have been killed in the past day in eastern Ukraine as hostilities continued between government troops and pro-independence rebels, authorities said Thursday.
The fatalities came amid hopes that a ceasefire would be established in the restive regions soon after peace talks in Minsk produced a roadmap for an end to fighting.
Explosions and shooting rocked the rebel-held Donetsk city overnight, killing seven people and wounding 14 others, the city council said in a statement.
Besides, three people died during a shelling in Avdeevka town, 15 kilometers north of Donetsk.
Battles between government troops and the rebel forces were also raging in Lugansk region, leaving 4 civilians dead and 7 other wounded since Wednesday, regional authorities said.
As a result of the fighting across the two restive regions, two Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 21 wounded in the past 24 hours, according to the Defense Ministry's General Staff press service.
The insurgents have not commented on their casualties over the past day.
Earlier in the day, leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France reached a peace deal for an end to fighting in eastern Ukraine, following 14-hour marathon talks in the Belarussian capital of Minsk.
The agreement envisages a ceasefire between the Ukrainian forces and insurgents effective from Sunday, followed by the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy.
The conflict in Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which has been raging since April 2014, has claimed more than 5,300 lives so far.
