Clashes kill 15more Ukrainian servicemen

KIEV, Aug 8 (AFP):- Fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed 15 Ukrainian servicemen and injured 79 more over the past 24 hours, a Ukrainian military spokesman said Friday.

The dead included seven soldiers and eight border guards killed in a fierce battle for control of the porous border with Russia in the southeast of the war-torn Lugansk region, National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

Fierce battles on Ukraine's porous eastern border left 15 government servicemen dead as fears of a possible invasion swirled after NATO urged Moscow to withdraw its troops along the frontier.

International tensions also rose as Western countries hit out at a Russian food embargo imposed as revenge for sanctions slapped on Moscow over its backing for insurgents in Ukraine.