DHAKA: At least 11 people in fierce fighting in east Ukraine as government forces and pro-Russian rebels battled for control of an airport.

The officials said on this on Friday, reports the Times of India.

A military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said six soldiers killed and 18 others wounded over the past day, adding that a civilian was left dead in a rebel strike on a checkpoint near Fashchivka in the Lugansk region.

City officials in hard-hit Donetsk earlier said four civilians died after shelling sparked a fire at a warehouse there.

Fierce fighting broke out Thursday around the Donetsk airport, a wrecked shell repeatedly hit by battles but still of symbolic and strategic importance.

After an overnight break, there were reports of fresh fighting on Friday.

BDST: 1937 HRS, JAN 16, 2015