3 Ukrainian troops killed in airport battle in restive east

A Ukrainian woman looks through a broken window at their flat after it was hit by Ukrainian Artillery in the center of Donetsk, Jan 18, 2015. [Photo/IC]

KIEV - Three soldiers were killed and 31 others wounded in the past 24 hours as a bitter battle between government forces and independence-seeking insurgents raged for control over Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine, the military said Sunday.

The airport is still under control of Ukrainian troops, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said.

It added that all the injured soldiers had been successfully evacuated and would be sent to hospitals for necessary treatment.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing that Ukrainian troops launched a "mass operation" overnight retaking almost all the territory of the airport.

"The decision was taken for a mass operation ... We succeeded in almost completely cleaning the territory of the airport, which belongs to the territory of Ukrainian forces as marked by military separation lines," he said.

The operation had returned the battle lines near the airport to the previous status quo, he said, adding that the Ukrainian army had thus not violated the Minsk peace plan singed between Kiev and insurgents' leaders last September.

Ukrainian troops took control of Donetsk airport in the insurgent-held city last July. Since then, the facility has been a flashpoint in the conflict that began in mid-April in 2014 and has claimed more than 4,700 lives so far.

The defense of the airport is a strategic goal of Ukrainian government forces, which enable Ukrainian troops to retain a presence on the outskirts of Donetsk, the largest city in the restive region.