Two soldiers, one civilian killed after failed Ukraine talks

Kiev

Ukraine reported the death of two soldiers and was blamed by pro-Russian rebels for killing a civilian in fighting that followed another failed round of EU-mediated peace talks. 

The Kiev-appointed head of Lugansk -- an eastern province that along with its larger neighbour Donetsk have been waging a 15-month war against Ukraine's pro-Western leadership -- said three troops were also injured when their vehicle came under fire from insurgents.

"One soldier was seriously wounded and then died, and three more injured soldiers were hospitalised," Lugansk governor Gennadiy Moskal said in a statement. 

Kiev's army reported the death of another serviceman in a separate incident in the devastated industrial heartland of the ex-Soviet state. 

"The number of (rebel) attacks has doubled," Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters.

The Donetsk militants' news site said an elderly man had also died of his wounds after the regional town of Gorlivka came under attack from Ukrainian units. 

The clashes -- sporadic since the start of the month -- resumed with renewed vigour in the wake of another round of unproductive talks Tuesday between Moscow and Kiev envoys that were also attended by the rebels in the Belarussian capital Minsk.