Kiev -
A five-year old girl was killed on Friday by shelling in war-torn east Ukraine and her mother seriously wounded, Ukrainian officials said.
A military spokesman in Kiev and local officials said the child was killed when rebel mortar fire hit a village close to the frontline, north-west of the major rebel stronghold of Lugansk.
Pro-Kiev local governor Gennadiy Moskal said the mother had been taking her daughter to a local clinic when the incident occurred.
"A shell exploded nearby as a result of which the child sadly died on the spot and the mother was heavily injured," he said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the regional police force wrote on Facebook that the girl's mother was currently in intensive care and that "medics were fighting to save her life."
Elsewhere, one soldier was also killed and six others injured in fighting around the region over the past 24 hours, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. - Sapa-AFP