Kiev (AFP) - One Ukrainian soldier was killed in fresh clashes between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the war-torn country's east, s military spokesman said Sunday.

"Over the last day, one soldier was killed in fighting," spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told journalists, adding that clashes took place near a village right on the demarcation line, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the rebel stronghold Donetsk.

Motuzyanyk said Ukrainian soldiers in the village of Zaitseve were attacked with mortar fire for 10 minutes on Saturday.

He said about "100 armed rebels" had attacked Kiev's positions near the town of Gorlivka on Friday but were pushed back by government forces.

The separatist authorities for their part accused the army of 17 ceasefire violations over the last 24 hours, according to the rebels' DAN news agency.

In its latest report, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Ukraine said its monitors were on Saturday prevented from approaching 12 howitzers in the village of Yurivka southwest of Lugansk, in violation of an arms withdrawal agreement.

"One of the armed individuals released a burst of fire into the air with an automatic rifle and another individual pointed his automatic rifle at the SMM," the mission said.

Over 8,000 people have been killed and more than 18,000 injured in the Ukraine conflict since April 2014, according to the United Nations. Though violence had subsided since September, the toll has once again crept up over the past several weeks.