At least 12 Ukrainian servicemen killed in road accident

At least 12 Ukrainian servicemen killed in road accident

KIEV - At least 12 Ukrainian serviceman were killed and more than 20 injured when some military trucks collided with their bus in eastern Ukraine, police said on Tuesday.

The accident took place late on Monday near an area of conflict with pro-Russian separatists who are fighting Ukrainian government forces, they said. The military casualties belonged to National Guard units. "During a rotation of volunteers and servicemen in the area of anti-terrorist operations on Jan 5, military trucks and a bus collided in bad weather conditions," a police statement said. No other details of the accident were immediately available.

More than 4,700 people have been killed in the conflict, which has provoked the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

In a separate incident, Volodymyr Ruban, an activist who monitors the release of military prisoners, wrote on Facebook that seven Ukrainian servicemen were captured by separatists in Donetsk when navigation equipment led them to travel down a road controlled by rebels.

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