MOSCOW
Russia has called on Ukraine to immediately declare a ceasefire and open a dialogue with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in a bid to prevent new clashes and deaths.
The comments by Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Alexander Lukashevich at a weekly press conference Thursday came after Ukrainian military officials said fierce clashes killed 25 separatists in rebel-held Gorlovka and Seversk cities earlier in the day.
Lukashevich said in Moscow: "Dialogue should begin between the two parties."
The Ukrainian army managed to take control of the two cities a week after gaining Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka, Konstantinovka and Artemovsk following clashes.
Semen Semenchenko, a Ukrainian army volunteer commander from the Donbass region, said Ukrainian forces had destroyed many sites belonging to the rebels and added that a Ukrainian soldier had died in the clashes.
Meanwhile, Vasily Lazoryshynets, Ukraine's deputy health minister, said 478 civilians, including seven children, had lost their lives and 1,392 others had been wounded in the country's anti-terror operation.
He added 279 people were still undergoing treatment in hospitals and more civilians had been killed than soldiers.
Ukraine launched an "anti-terror" operation in mid-April to restore government control over the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told at a press conference Thursday that civilians would be evacuated within a few days.
"We have evacuated our people. Russia must receive hundreds of refugees as most of them want to go to Russia," he said.
Conflict has flared in Ukraine after pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part declared their intention to break away from Kiev in March.
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